


The Bargain

by Kaufmann



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Abusive Reginald Hargreeves, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Child Abuse, Don't Like Don't Read, Flashbacks, Ghost Ben Hargreeves, Hostage Situations, Hurt Klaus Hargreeves, Interrogation, Just What The Previous Tags Say, Klaus Hargreeves Has PTSD, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Klaus Hargreeves Needs Help, Mentioned David "Dave" Katz, Mentioned Reginald Hargreeves, No Incest, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Non-Consensual Kissing, Non-Consensual Touching, Not Beta Read, Not Season/Series 02 Compliant, Number Five | The Boy has PTSD, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Past Child Abuse, Protective Ben Hargreeves, Protective Diego Hargreeves, Protective Number Five | The Boy, Protective Vanya Hargreeves, Rape/Non-con Elements, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Season/Series 01, Sober Klaus Hargreeves, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, no rape scene, read the tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:13:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 33,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26140198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaufmann/pseuds/Kaufmann
Summary: The 58-year-old man trapped in his 13-year-old body froze in place, eyes glued to the scene in front of him, slowly lowering the gun he was holding. Klaus was on his knees on the asphalt, his green eyes wide open to Five, Handler's hand encased in his brown hair, the gun in his temple.The Handler disabled the safety with oneclickand looked at Five."So, Number Five, what's gonna be? "OrThe Handler remembers thesmart-assFive really is onS1 E5and her plans change.
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves & Lila Pitts, Klaus Hargreeves/David "Dave" Katz (mentioned), Number Five | The Boy & Klaus Hargreeves, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, The Handler & Klaus Hargreeves
Comments: 159
Kudos: 419





	1. The Deal

Five watched as time stopped, causing Hazel and Cha-Cha to freeze in the air, Luther paralyzing in front of him and the ice cream truck Klaus was driving with Diego to stop.

He narrowed his eyes, coming out from behind Luther to look around. She had arrived. Five analyzed the surrounding, waiting. Diego and Klaus were in the ice cream truck, Séance had a crazed expression on his face and the Kraken was horrified. Snorting with the attitude of his brothers, Five returned to the middle of the street, just when The Handler appeared in front of him.

"Hello, Five" she said, holding the briefcase with both hands, looking shy, but Five knew she was anything but. The woman's eyes shone evil, and she looked at him as if he were a piece of meat "Um... You've been making my job harder, you know, "She was looking at her own nails right now, not even sparing a look at Five, which made him furious.

"Cut the joke" Snarled Five, pointing a gun at her, a rabid look on his face. The Handler just smiled, finally looking at him again.

"Ooohh! That's what I love in you, Five! Always straight to business!" The Handler looked around at the confusion Five and his brothers had made and walking around him toward the ice cream truck, making a grimace at Luther. Five followed her, the gun tight in his hand "Are those your brothers? Pathetic” She had come to the side of the Ice Cream truck door, looking at Diego and Klaus "Although this one is cute..." She stroked Klaus' cheek, causing Five to grind his teeth and point the gun at her again.

"Get away from him" Said Five, a dangerous tone in his voice. The Handler laughed, not moving from the place, but taking her hand off Klaus' face.

"You know Five, even after all these years, I still can't understand why you risked so much to save these people, what they did for you? Pushed you when you told them you could travel back in time? Pushed you away when you told them about the apocalypse? Rated you crazy? Honestly, Five, I don't know how you still care about saving them, you're not going to make it anyway, the apocalypse is going to happen no matter what you do to stop it."

At the end of that speech, Five was trembling with anger. How dare her talking about his brothers like that? How dare her to talk about Five in that way, and _how dare_ her to lay _a finger_ on Klaus?

"What do you want with that? " He managed to stop his voice from shaking, his eyes fixed on her hand that was again on Klaus, this time stroking the man's brown hair.

"Oh" Spoke The Handler, as if she were only now remembering the reason for all this "Well, look, Five. I wanted to offer you a deal, a proposal, but then I remembered what a smart-ass you are, and my plans were... redefined"

Five blinked, and the next second, The Ice Cream truck door was open and The Handler was pulling a contorted Klaus out. The man was struggling with all his might, but The Handler was surprisingly strong, and Klaus was thin and weak, which caused her to drag him into the center of the street and force him to get down on his knees, putting the gun in his temple.

The 58-year-old man trapped in his 13-year-old body froze in place, eyes glued to the scene in front of him, slowly lowering the gun he was holding. Klaus was on his knees on the asphalt, his green eyes wide open to Five, Handler's hand encased in his brown hair, the gun in his temple. His face writhed in a grimace of pain as he struggled once more and the woman pulled his head back by his hair, revealing his neck to Five.

The Handler disabled the safety with one _click_ and looked at Five.

"So, Number Five, what's gonna be? "

* * *

Five forced an impassive expression on his face, raising the gun again and pointing it at The Handler's head, although he knew he couldn`t shoot with his brother's life at risk.

"Let. Klaus. Go" Five whistled between his teeth, nauseous with Handler's smile. She smiled at him, fun in her eyes. The Handler kept the gun, but before Klaus could do anything, it was replaced by a knife pressed into his neck. Five watched Klaus hold his breath, The Séance's hands trembling beside the body.

The Handler crouched behind Klaus, the knife in his neck, a gleam in his eyes. She forced Klaus to take off his coat, leaving him with the gray shirt and military vest underneath. He saw when the woman held Klaus' hands behind his back with handcuffs, all the while maintaining eye contact with Five, teasing him, her hands groping Klaus more than necessary.

"Stop" Said Five, the hand that wasn`t holding the gun wrapped in fist. He felt the soft skin of his hand break and blood drain between his fingers, but it didn't matter because Klaus was being harassed by his former boss and Five didn`t like the miserable and tearful expression on his brother's face.

"Come on, Five" laughed Handler, squeezing Klaus' thigh, causing him to shudder and let out a faint groan of protest as she put her hand under his shirt. Five growled, not daring to step forward, but the expression on his face was now murderous "I didn't know you had cute brothers like this one" She supported the chin on Klaus' shoulder, which was tense, his eyes closed tightly.

"You're Number Four, aren’t you?” She purred to Klaus, who turned his head to the side, trying to get as far away from her as possible. Five twisted his face with woman's disgust, and hatred, oh, so much hate.

When he saved Klaus, Handler was going to pay, oh, yes, he was going to _kill her._ He would make her to pieces for what she was doing to her brother, she didn't know what she had been into when she started harassing Klaus. He would hunt her down to the ends of the earth if he had to, he would tear her apart, he would put her on her knees and make her _beg_ for forgiveness for what she did to Klaus. So then, only after a lot of torture, he'd kill her, and that would make him feel better, _much_ better.

Five shook his head, returning to the present moment, where The Handler was passing her hand through Klaus' body, causing his brother to _cringe_ and _cry._ She was whispering something in Klaus' ear, which made him shudder and shake his head. When she caught him looking, the woman pulled the knife from where he had placed Klaus' right thigh, (which Five didn't even notice, he should be too deep in his thoughts about Handler's death not to notice) and reposition it on Klaus` throat.

"Well, Five, first, I'd like to ask pear you to gently unload your gun and put it down, don't you want to hurt poor Number Four, would you?” He stared at her with his best killer look, but she didn't even flinch, pressing the knife deeper into Klaus' neck, which caused a thin line of blood to drain.

Five repressed a comment to see his brother bleed and opened the bullet compartment, throwing the ammunition across the road, discarding the gun a few feet from Handler. She smiled:

"All right, Five" she pulled the knife away from Klaus' neck a little, but kept pressed so that if he moved, he'd cut his throat. "Well, here's our deal" She was finally going straight to the point, Five couldn't bear to watch his brother suffer anymore, even if he never admitted it to anyone, and his face didn't look scared, just _hate_ "You'll come back to work with us without tricks. In management. I'm even thinking we could reverse the process of your body, we have that technology. I doubt you're happy in those little shorts, although they're cute."

"What about my brothers? What about Klaus? I want them alive and safe" Said Five, looking briefly at Luther and Diego, but coming back to face her and Klaus, who had silent tears dripping down his cheeks and was looking at him with despair and supplication in the eyes, Five looked at him and conveyed a message with his eyes _'You will be okay. I’ll save you'._

"Your brothers?" The Handler looked at Luther, who was frozen with open arms, the fake briefcase in one hand; and Diego, who was still inside the ice cream truck. Five didn't know how Diego was doing, but he hoped the man would be okay. Handler looked back at him, a dubious expression on the face "All of them?"

"Yes" Five whistled, his hands tight on fists "All of them"

"Well, I suppose we can try" She shrugged, carefree, pressing her lips on the side of Klaus' neck, passing the knife through his arms, without breaking his skin. The man writhed, trying to get away, his face contorted in anguish, but the most he could do was tilt his head to the side, which only made Handler have more access to his neck. She nibbled his skin, causing Klaus to shudder and let out a hiccup.

Five was shaking in place, barely holding back from jumping and killing Handler, but he couldn't risk her stop the time before he could do anything and kill Klaus. He had to stand still, be patient, but this was easier said than done, especially with Klaus being sexually harassed before his eyes. He took a deep breath, counting in his mind before addressing her.

"What about Klaus?" Klaus raised his eyes at the mention of his name, looking at Five with an intensity that made him look away.

"Oh" Said The Handler, moving away from Klaus' neck, making the man sigh with relief, though the knife was back to his neck "We'll take him with us, obviously! Little Four will be our guarantee that you will not try anything... drastic"

Five wide his eyes, as did Klaus, who had begun to hyperventilate.

"WHAT?!" Five screamed, jumping close to the two, which made Handler get up and pull Klaus with her. The green-eyed man stumbled, barely aware of what was happening, panic in his eyes "NO!"

"Ah, but Five, we both know you'd arm for me if I didn't have Little Four as safe" said Handler, the sickly sweet voice, the hand that didn't hold the knife in Klaus' neck stroking the man's cheek, who this time did not react.

"Let him go!" Five cried out, extending his little hands to Klaus uselessly.

"No" Handler said, her arm now around Klaus' waist, holding in place as he sobbed and writhed, causing the knife to cut his neck further, more blood dripping. Five froze in place, Handler smiled "That's the deal, either you accept, or everyone dies. If you don't accept, I'm going to kill Four slowly, right in front of you, I don't think you want that, do you? After all, Four is your little brother, you want to protect him" She whispered the last part, purring to Five, who grunted.

"All right" He said, his shoulders falling in defeat “But I have conditions"

"More than one?” Handler feigned surprise, squeezing Klaus' ass, laughing when his captive screamed.

"Yes, more than one" Growled Five, eyes fixed on Klaus' panicked expression "First, I want all my brothers to stay alive. Second, you'll _never_ touch Klaus without his permission again, which I doubt he'll give you."

"Oh, but what would be the fun and I didn't have my toy? There are so many things I could do if we were in a suitable place!" The subtle threat did not pass Five, who faced her "All right, I'll think about it" She laughed, extending her left hand, to which she didn`t hold the knife, to Five.

"Wait" said Five, turning to the bullet that was pointing toward Luther and diverting it from the path. He took Hazel and Cha-Cha`s gun, doing the same think he did to his. Then he walked up to Klaus and The Handler, looking one last time at his brother's anguished and panicked green eyes before shaking the outstretched hand and everything was wrapped in blue.


	2. Klaus

In a second, Klaus was driving the ice cream truck, with Diego screaming mad and Ben shouting "Wheee!". The next second, the door was being opened and he was being pulled out by his hair.

Klaus tried to struggle and escape, but surprisingly strong arms wrapped around him and pushed him to the ground, forcing him to get down on his knees. When he felt the cold barrel of a gun in his temple, Klaus froze, his hands trembling, and looked up when a female voice said:

"So, Number Five, what's gonna be? "

* * *

He was barely aware of most of the conversation, focusing on the _invading hand on his belly, nipples, back......_

_And the hand wouldn't come out, it wouldn't come out._

_The hand wouldn't move away! Why wouldn't the hand move away?_

_He didn't want that hand there, he didn't want the presence behind him rubbing against him._

_Off! Off! Off!_

_Why wouldn't the hand get off?_

_No... No..._

_Get off! No!_

He vaguely recorded his coat being removed and his hands handcuffed behind his back, only that _hand, that hand..._

 _"Don't think about it, Klaus"_ He could almost hear the voice of Ben in his ear, although he couldn’t see him now _"Focus on something else, it'll be all right"_

All right, Klaus thought, he could do it. He felt the cold of Dave's dog tags on his neck, he remembered the happy moments he spent with Dave. His laugh, his beautiful blue eyes that looked like pools and Klaus wanted to drown in them. Yes, he could do that.

 _No! He couldn't do that!_ _The hand shook his thigh and entered under his shirt!_

"No..." Moaned Klaus, softly, trying to get away, but _the hand didn't come out, it didn't come out, instead it was squeezing his nipples, making him tremble and that made him nauseous._ The woman was laughing in his ear, and he heard a growl, which made him look up, seeing Five looking at the woman (He thought it was a woman, the hands were too small to be a man's) behind him with hate.

Five was there, he was going to save him! Klaus really expected him to save him, Séance knew he could be a pain in the ass sometimes, but Five wouldn't leave him in that situation, right? Five cared about him, right?

There was a knife in his neck, he hadn't even noticed, very concentrated on _the hand, which was on his waist, rubbing, rubbing... Klaus wanted it to stop!_

"I didn't know you had cute brothers like this one " _A chin was being propped on his shoulder_ and he became tense, trying to _pull_ _away,_ but her _hand held_ him, the knife in his neck was pressed lightly, as a warning."You're number four, aren't you? " The female voice purred, and Klaus bowed his head as much as possible, the knife sticking into his neck, but without cutting, fortunately.

"We're going to have so _much fun_ ” She whispered, her hand _rubbing,_ _squeezing, a tongue licking his neck_ and he _almost_ screamed, writhing to get away. Klaus looked at Five, but the 58-year-old seemed distracted, staring at a spot on the ground.

"Stop" Klaus whispered, his voice clouded with tears, that he didn’t even realize they were falling until the knife was turned away from his neck and _the_ _hand wipe them off_. He shook his head, and _the hand moved to his hair, pulling him,_ which forced him to stand still. He felt _lips skim his ear and sobbed_ , without being able to keep his head away.

"Now, now, " Whispered the female voice, her _lips kissing the dot behind his ear_ "Be quiet, yes? You don't want to get in the way of my business with your brother, do you? " He felt the knife being pressed into his thigh "You're _delicious_ , you know that? I could do this _forever..._ Your brother can't stop me, I'll do whatever I want with you, Little Four."

Klaus shuddered and a new wave of tears descended his cheeks. He forced himself to be quiet and not shout the injustice of it, as he would like to do. He felt the knife being pressed against his neck again and allowed himself to lose in his thoughts.

He heard pieces of "...unload your weapon..." and "...You don't want to hurt poor Number Four, do you? " as he sank into his mind. He didn't even record the pain of the knife cutting off his neck, which he only knew when he felt a hot substance run down his neck.

By this time, Klaus thought he should’ve been used to people violating his consent, he had already lost count of the times he had been _caught by someone and fucked in an alley_ , his traffickers demanding _alternative means_ _of payment_ when he had no money, _drugged and imprisoned in a bed, raped, used..._ but somehow, this time he was feeling all stronger. Maybe it was because he was sober, or almost sober, the withdrawal was almost over, but he didn't know, he didn't know. He didn't have Ben with his crazy theories, he had no one to comfort him.

Klaus was imposing.

* * *

Klaus repressed a hiccup when the woman once again _pressed a spot on his_ _body that made him tremble and feel disgusted at himself_ and looked up _,_ finding Five's eyes, which were desperate, though his face and posture didn’t show it.

He looked at Five, trying to convey with his eyes _'Please help me'_ because he couldn't take it anymore and Five was the only one who could do anything. Klaus was taken from his thoughts by the knife being dragged by his arms and _the tongue back into his neck and teeth_ _nibbling his skin._

Klaus writhed, bowing his head, but this caused her to have more access to his neck and _make_ _a hickey on his shoulder_. He hoped Five hadn't noticed.

* * *

As focused as he was at trying to _get_ _away from the touches,_ it took a few seconds for the information to register in his brain.

“What about Klaus?"

And then…

"We'll take him with us, obviously!”

His breathing accelerated and the only thoughts in his mind were panic.

_What?!_

_No, no, no, no!_

_NO!_

_He couldn't, he couldn't._

_HE WAS GOING TO DIE!_

_The woman was going to..._

_She was going to..._

_No..._

_No..._

He felt _an arm pulling him_ and suddenly he was standing, and Five's voice was in his ears.

"NO!" Five was screaming in anger and Klaus paid no attention to what the woman replied, because _he couldn't breathe, he couldn't breathe_ and Five was looking at him desperately, his eyes almost bouncing.

"Let him go!" This time Five didn’t try to contain the fear in his voice, and Klaus saw how desperate he was. The small hands extended to the Séance, the eyes wide.

"No" Said the woman, and Klaus felt more tears in his eyes and sobbed, writhing, regardless of the knife, which dug deeper into his neck and he felt more blood drain, and _an arm snaking down his waist_ , _holding him_ in place "That's the deal, either you accept, or everyone dies. If you don't accept, I'm going to kill Four slowly, right in front of you, I don't think you want that, do you?"

Klaus felt as if he were underwater, not recording what was happening, the voices of the woman and his brother muffled, only his panic on the surface.

_He couldn't breathe!_

_He couldn't breathe!_

_She was going to..._

_She was going to..._

_No, no, no, no, no, no, no,_

_Please don't..._

_No!_

_No!_

_NO! NO!_ _NO!_

_LET GO! NO!_

_HE DOESN'T WANT TO GO WITH HER!_

_FIVE! FIVE!_

_FIVE!_

_No... Please..._

_Five had accepted..._

_He- they-_

_No! No! No!_

_Five was... was... was walking down the street -what?_

_He couldn't breathe!_

_What was Five doing?!_

_Five, come back!_

_He was coming back, Five was coming back._

_He... what??_

_Five was looking at him._

_Looking..._

_Klaus looked back..._

_And then..._ _Blue..._


	3. The Meeting

The Ice Cream Truck hit the car, and when Diego turned to yell at Klaus that he was crazy, he saw only an empty bench. He wide-eyed, struggling to get out with his only arm operating, hearing Luther scream:

“Five!” He heard a shake, and something hit the ground. He managed to stumble out of the truck, seeing _Eudora's murders_ running toward a briefcase, which must have been the object he heard.

Luther was running towards him and Diego spotted Klaus' coat in the middle of the street.

"Klaus!" Diego shouted, picking up his brother’s coat and looking around, how could Klaus have just disappeared in the _lapse of a second?!_ "Klaus!"

"Diego!" Luther had come to his side and passed his arm over his shoulder, helping him walk, but Diego was shaking his head and looking around, because _where was Klaus?!_ “Diego let's go! We'll find him later! Five has also disappeared! We'll figure this out later!"

This caused Diego to move, but he still looked around wildly, squeezing Klaus' coat into his arm hand that was not bruised. Luther helped him sit in the back seat and got into the driver's, stepping on the accelerator, the car going off.

* * *

Diego didn't pay attention to where they were going, but by the times he looked at the streets Luther was picking up, he assumed it was the Academy, although he didn't know how Luther knew how to drive there, he never left home.

He spent most of the way thinking about what might have happened and where Klaus was. Maybe Luther was right and Five had something to do with Klaus' disappearance, but Diego didn't know, that sounded weird. In a second, Klaus was there, laughing like a maniac, driving the Ice Cream truck (something Diego thought he couldn't do, he would know, he had already tried to teach Klaus how to drive once), and the next, he was gone, as if he had disappeared into the air, and his coat was on the ground, in the middle of the street. This situation didn't make any sense.

He was shaken from his thoughts when the car stopped and Luther came to help him enter the house, taking him to the infirmary, where they found Grace, who was amazingly fine and arranging the medical supplies as she did when they were children.

"Mom?" Asked Diego, taking a few steps forward and extending his right hand to her shoulder. She turned, smiling at him, her blonde hair perfectly neat.

"Hello, Diego dear" Then she saw his arm bruised, the blood staining his clothes "Oh, Diego! What happened?"

As Diego and Luther moved to tell what happened, with Diego talking, Luther interrupting from time to time to add things about Five, Mom took care of his arm, patting it nicely when she finished putting on the sling.

"Ready! Shining like new! Don't worry, boys, I'm sure your brothers will show up eventually!" With that, she walked away, leaving them alone.

"Uh, I–" Luther began, but Diego interrupted him, shaking his head.

"We don't have time for this. We need to find Klaus."

* * *

The next morning, Diego, Luther and Allison were gathered around the bar, discussing what happened the day before.

“He just disappeared?" Asked Luther as Diego sighed exasperated, almost banging his head on the counter in frustration.

“Am I going to have to do it again? "Retort Diego, anger in his tone “Yes, he just disappeared, Puff! One second, he was there, driving the truck like crazy, and the next, he was gone! As if he had been carried by the air!"

"Luther said Five also disappeared from one second to the next, maybe he knows where Klaus is" Said Allison, frowning. Diego sighed.

"But that's the question, isn't it? Where's Five? We all know that if that psychopath doesn't want to be found, he won't." He was turning a knife between his fingers, hitting it on the thigh, a habit he had, which he made when he was nervous or stressed, Eudora had already said that this was bad, but he didn`t want to think about her now.

After a while of silence, Allison said “Guys, I think we should call Vanya, she deserves to participate and know what's going on" She said. And right at that moment, a voice came from the entrance to the room.

"I'm here, what is that?" Vanya was standing in one of the arches, a man behind her, Diego judged him, and he looked harmless, wearing a plaid shirt and a coat.

"Well" Diego said, rising, admitting to himself the against taste that even Vanya deserved to know about Klaus, and he knew that besides him and Vanya, the others didn’t care much about Klaus "If you want to stay, this guy have to leave” He gestured at the man with the knife in his right hand, who wasn’t in the sling.

"Diego!" Allison exclaimed, but he shrugged, not caring. Klaus was missing, and this man was intruding.

"No, no, it's all right," Said the man, raising his hands "I can see this is important, I'll go away" He turned to Vanya “Do you want me to come back for you later, or... ?"

"No, I can take a taxi, but thanks, Leonard” They smiled at each other and exchanged a quick kiss before Leonard left toward the door, saying before closing the door:

"Don't forget to tell them, Vanya!" Then the door closed, and they were alone. Allison took a step forward, her forehead frowned.

"Tell what?" Vanya paired shy with the question, looking down and dragging her feet, her fingers twisting the fabric of the blouse.

"Oh, well... Monday I have a performance in the orchestra, and now I'm the first chair, I'm going to do solo. I came here to invite you to go" She explained, softly, as everyone wide their eyes, Allison smiling excitedly at her, looking about to jump "I have reserved the first row for you guys, including Five and Klaus, who, by the way, where are they?"

"That's one of the subjects of our meeting, let's go to the kitchen, it'll be better there" Said Luther, starting to go toward the stairs that went down to the kitchen, the others following him.

* * *

"Five and Klaus are missing? And what did you mean by apocalypse?" Vanya asked, landing on the table the cup of coffee Allison brought to all of them.

"Yes" said Luther, taking a sip of his own glass before continuing “And according to Five, something will happen in three days that will destroy humanity completely, leaving nothing but ashes"

"Are you saying that the thirteen-year-old Five ended up in a post-apocalyptic world when he traveled back in time sixteen years ago?"Asked Allison, wide-eyed, the realization of this making everyone wonder how much Five actually went through, Vanya covering her mouth, horror in her eyes.

“Yes. And apparently, we tried to stop whatever caused it the first time, when Five wasn't here, but we couldn't, and, well, we..." He looked at the two women sitting side by side in front of him and Diego, leaning against the wall, trying his best to cross his arms, but failing to do with the sling. Then Luther whispered, fearful, swerved his eyes "We died"

"What?" Vanya asked, her voice faltering.

"We died" He repeated, finishing the coffee, and putting the empty cup on the table. All were silent for a few seconds, which were cut by Diego, who had moved away from the wall and approached them.

"It doesn't matter, we have to find Klaus, he could be in danger or something, we have no idea what happened to him. I don't like it." He said lower, more to himself than to others, hitting the handle of the knife eagerly on the thigh again.

"We have to find Five first" said Luther, and Diego stared at him, which made Luther look back with the same intensity, neither of the yielding "Five is more important"

"Klaus is our brother! Aren't you worried about what happened to him?!" Diego shouted, pointing the knife at him as Luther stood up.

"Of course I am! But we need to set our priorities! Klaus can take care of himself and Five is essential to save the world! We can't put the life of one over that of thousands!" Shouted Luther, pointing a finger at Diego's, who pointed the knife at him. When Diego was about to do something drastic, Vanya interrupted, making everyone turn to her.

"Hey guys, calm down, let's talk about it like rational adults" Diego ignored and kept staring at Luther.

"I think we should look for Five first" Said Allison, and when Diego was opening his mouth to defend Klaus, she raised her hand to shut him "No, Diego, let me speak for the first time. I'm worried about Klaus, but we don't have any information or clue to find him, so we need to find Five, as I said before, he might know something, maybe he can give us some direction, and help us stop the apocalypse."

"I agree with Allison" Commented Vanya "I want to know where Klaus is and if he's okay. Diego, you know how many times we met in a hospital because Klaus had overdosed or been beaten by homophobes and drug dealers. I care about Klaus, he's my brother, and he, besides you and Five, Diego, was one of the only ones who really paid attention to me when we were kids”

"Vanya..." Allison reached out to her, who accepted, but shook her head.

"It's okay Allison, we were kids, Dad fucked up with us” Diego raised his eyebrows with the choice of words, but laughed lightly and sat facing Vanya, Luther picking up the headboard.

As a result, the conflict was temporarily removed, although Diego knew that this would eventually be brought to the fore. They sat at the kitchen table, listing possible places Five could be in and planned.

* * *

Later, when the meeting was over and they parted ways, Luther and Allison having already gone out to look for Five, Diego found Vanya in the hallway, looking at the old umbrella academy paintings, especially the first, in which all six were, where Five had not yet fled and Ben was alive.

"Hey, Vanya" he said, stopping beside her, looking at the painting.

"Hi Diego" She sighed, looking at him briefly before walking away toward the couch that mom likes so much, where she spends hours admiring the numerous paintings.

"Hey, uh, thanks" Diego spoke, sitting next to her, watching her as she pulled a loose thread from the padding. Vanya raised her head, clearly surprised.

"For what?" She questioned, abandoning the thread in favor of looking at him with those big brown eyes. Diego looked away.

"By saying those things about Klaus" He said, then added, quietly "About me" He looked at his hands "I'm sorry to say those things on the day of Dad's funeral, I was angry about the book" Vanya smiled sadly.

"Are we in a cession of apologies and thanks? "She laughed lightly, a watery smile on her face, but said "I'm sorry too. I mean, I don't regret writing the book, it was a very therapeutic experience for me, putting it all out, but I regret publishing it". Diego looked at her surprised, something in his eyes that she couldn’t identify "I should’ve talked to you guys before. Well… now, after five years since the book, I'm beginning to realize that Dad did a number on all of us, but when I wrote that book, I was thinking of myself, I'm sorry"

Diego was looking at her, not believing the words that came out of the mouth of the same woman who said so many bad things about him and his brothers and sister, but he saw that she was being genuine and truly sorry, and it yielded a little smile on his face. He put his right hand over her shoulder, giving some pats.

"Vanya, I... I can't say I forgive you because it would be a lie." It made her bow her head, shrinking over herself. He gave a last pat before lowering his hand, looking at her "But I can say that I understand what you did, and that although what you wrote hurt me and made me angry, I don't hate you"

Vanya smiled and hugged him, resting her head on his shoulder, which surprised him, but he soon relaxed and returned the hug with his right arm, putting his head on top of hers. They were hugging for a while, but when they walked away, Vanya said:

"Thank you for standing by me when we were kids, offering silent support, and thank you for not abandoning me when we left the Academy, that time at *Prime 8's was good" Diego laughed, dismissing his concerns about Klaus, even for just a moment.

"Yes, it was good. Do you remember when Body and I had a food competition and he ate so much that he threw up?" Diego asked, smiling at her.

"We had to carry him to the car and take him to his house" The two laughed and settled into a comfortable silence, which was cut off when Diego sighed, rising. They had to look for Five to find Klaus and stop the end of the world.

"Shall we go?" He reached out to Vanya, who looked at him without fear and tension for the first time since the fight over the band and the publication of the book.

"Yes"

She took his hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * For those who didn't read the comics, Prime 8's was the band that Diego and Vanya formed with a monkey called Body.


	4. The Tour

When the blue light faded, Five found himself in Handler's office, who was sitting in an armchair, Klaus at her feet, his head buried in his knees bent, his hands still handcuffed behind his back.

"Oh, Five! How kind of you to join us! Sit down! Sit down!" Five reluctantly headed for the armchair in front of her, looking at Klaus before sitting down.

"I would like to discuss the safety of my brothers and sisters as soon as possible, preferably where you will keep Klaus" Five's voice was somber, and he stared at Handler with narrowed eyes.

Handler reached out and began stroking Klaus' hair as if he were a puppy. Klaus shrank, but he kept quiet and didn't move.

"Well, I'll see what I can do for your brothers" She said, putting her hands on Klaus' armpits, pulling him to her lap and kissing him on his lips, provoking a small cry of protest from Klaus, who had begun to cry again, but otherwise hadn’t moved "As for Little Four, well... Why don't you have a cup of tea with me while we wait?"

"I prefer coffee, thank you" Said Five, a forced smile on his face as he stared at Handler as she kissed Klaus on the lips and licked the tears that flowed down his brother's cheeks. Five clenched his fists, taking a deep breath and looking away, thinking about the various ways he could kill Handler.

After what seemed like an eternity, the door opened and two men in armor and guns in hems entered, nor blinking their eyes at Handler being Klaus.

"Hello, boys!" Said The Handler, moving away from Klaus, who let out a choked sigh, finally opening his eyes and looking at Five.

Klaus' eyes were injected with tears, his cheeks seemed inflated, the red was spreading through them, his clothes were messy, and his shoulders trembled. He looked at Five as if he were saying "Help me!".

"Take him, I'll check him out," Handler told the men, who approached and grabbed Klaus, beginning to drag him to the door as he writhed.

“Five!” Klaus spoke for the first time since they entered this situation, and it was an appeal to Five, who could do nothing but observe while his brother was taken to who knows where. Five stood up, looking one last time at Klaus before the door closed.

"So, shall we get down to business? Asked Handler, getting up and walking to the table, sitting in the big chair.

* * *

Five sat, nodding distractedly as she explained the proceedings, but his mind was full of thoughts about Klaus.

His younger brother was somewhere in the Commission, at Handler's mercy now, who Five was sure wouldn’t stop exploring Klaus, and only thought made him boil in anger, the sounds of Klaus' suffering echoing in his ears. Five needed to figure out a way to save him, and soon, he didn't know how long Klaus could last.

"So, shall we go?" Handler was standing and turning around the table, Five quickly got up and walked her out the door, looking around to find a trace of Klaus, but finding nothing, obviously.

He barely paid attention while The Handler took a tour of the Commission, when in other circumstances he might have even admired how it all worked, he now only had eyes for Klaus and how his brother was suffering and it made him want to kill everyone who ever lay a finger with bad intentions on Klaus.

He held on so as not to pull his concealed knife and stab Handler. Five needed to be patient, he didn't even know where Klaus was and would be subdued quickly if he tried something in the middle of the hall.

"This is the Tube Room, where we send orders to our agents, as you once were, Number Five" She spoke as if nothing was wrong, as if she weren’t sexually abusing Klaus ten minutes earlier. This caused Five to clench his fists and the growing pit of hatred against Handler increased further.

Despite this, the Tube Room interested him, he always wanted to know how the Commission sent the tubes to agents as he once was, that interested him. He could use that knowledge to escape eventually.

They went through a room with people writing compulsively on their typewriters, that's where it would work, apparently. His little tour ended in another building, where employees who had no home stayed. They climbed up to the top floor, stopping in front of a door that had a sign where it was written:

MR. FIVE

"Here's your room, Five" Said Handler, opening the door and exposing a large room, which was even larger than the Academy's living room and extremely luxurious "You should feel lucky, Five, this kind of room is only granted to the best ones, and you're the best agent we've ever had! Besides, with a room like this, how would anyone want to leave?"

Five took care to keep the expression completely blank as the woman laughed, moving away from where they came from.

"Wait! What about Klaus?! When am I going to see him?!" He yelled at Handler, who turned her head lightly and laughed, moving away quickly without answering the question.

Five pressed his fists, resuming himself from shouting in frustration and turned to the room, entering cautiously, and closing the door. He searched for all possible frames but found only suits of his size in the closet, toothbrushes, shampoo, and conditioner, as well as dozens of notebooks in one of the desk drawers.

Giving up, Five sat on the bed. He knew that there was something, as well as the camera that was carefully hidden between the closet and the wall, but which he still found. Five would make sure not to do anything important in the line of sight of that camera.

When he got up from bed, planning to scribble what he knew in one of the countless notebooks, he heard the familiar noise of a tube message. Reaching the door of a small closet, Five took the cylinder and pulled a message with the Commission symbol from inside, sitting on the chair at the desk to read.

**_THE COMMISSION_ **

_**To** Mr. Five_

_**From** The Handler _

_  
**Date** -0-_

_Hello, Five. I hope you are adjusting well and enjoying this wonderful room! I've prepared everything for you, including small suits of your size! It was fun to get into the children's section!_

_Now, I'm sure you're very anxious to know about Number Four. You'll be able to see him every four cases you solve. Four because your brother's name is Four. Don't even try to set anything up, or Four will pay for your infractions._

_As I said before, but I'm sure you haven't heard, the office will start at 7:30 a.m., breakfast starts at 7:00 a.m. and I hope to see you dressed and ready in my office at this time to eat with me. No delays, or Number Four will suffer the consequences._

**_The Handler_ **

Five crumpled the paper, throwing it into a small garbage and hearing the noise of the tube disappearing. He sighed, looking around once more before deciding to take a bath.

* * *

He spent the rest of the day filling the pages of the notebooks with everything he learned, writing in his own language, which he had created years ago when he first joined the Commission and didn’t want them to know what he wrote.

In the end, he hadn't put together much except the name and function of some rooms he remembered spending with The Handler, but he hadn't paid much attention on the tour, so it wasn't much. Now he regretted not being attentive.

He sighed, falling back into the chair, the limbs falling in defeat. Five had no idea how to save Klaus, it annoyed him and made him anxious at the same time.

The fact that he didn't know where Klaus was and what was happening to his brother made him anxious and a little scared, though Five never admitted it out loud.

* * *

Toc. Toc.

"Come in, Five!" Five opened the door, dressed in one of the tailored suits, with a perfectly aligned tie clip.

This time Handler was sitting in the chair behind the table, and there was no sign of Klaus. Five entered slowly, stopping in front of Handler.

"Sit, Five!" Handler pointed to the chair in front of her, and Five, seeing no choice, sat down.

The Handler picked up a bell and shook it. Immediately, a group of people entered the room, carrying trays with different breakfast options.

"I didn't know what you'd like, so I asked for everything" Five frowned and made a grimace, shrugging.

"As long as it's edible, it doesn't matter to me," he said, annoyed by Handler's embroiling.

"Oh, yes, " said Handler, smiling as she passed something that looked like jelly on a toasted "Mr. Apocalypse!"

Five stared at her, watching the food closely. They could’ve poisoned or put some drugs, but again, why would they do it after all this work with Klaus to convince him to work with them?

Five was sure that the goal of bringing him to work with them was to observe him so that he wouldn’t stop the apocalypse, but there had to be something else.

Meanwhile, Five drank from the coffee he had found and ate from the jam and toast Handler had consumed, watching her closely all the time.

"Oh, what's with the ugly face?" Handler joked, looking amusedly at Five, who faced her as a murderer. She knew exactly why he was angry, and it amused her. Five was sure he would never meet anyone as vile as her. Even Reginald wasn't like that “All right”

Five looked up.

"I'll show Four to you. Maybe that'll ease that anger." The Handler picked up a small remote control, pressing a button that caused a TV to emerge from the ceiling. She pressed a few other buttons, and an image from security cameras appeared.

The TV showed a small room with a single bed in the corner, where Klaus was shrunk, apparently asleep. Five looked intently at his brother on the black and white screen, trying to find injuries and checking if Klaus' chest was moving.

Klaus was alive. This made Five's shoulders relax a little, but he still needed to find a way to get his brother out of this situation.

The Handler pressed a button and the screen darkened. Five turned to her, about to scream in indignation, but held, clasped his jaw, his fists clenched. _Be patient._

* * *

For Klaus, it's like he's shrouded in a fog. His brain looks cloudy and he barely records what's going on. Maybe it's some coping mechanism he'd never heard of, but it made it difficult to know what was going on around him.

He thinks he fainted, because when he opened his eyes, his eyelids were heavy, and he was lying on a soft carpet in an unknown place. He raised his head and sat with difficulty, realizing that his hands were handcuffed on his back.

But when’d that happen? Klaus didn't remember being handcuffed, maybe he was at the house of one of his dealers? But again, the room was too fancy and full of expensive trinkets to be. He was about to do the maneuver his father had taught so many years ago to bring his handcuffed hands forward and explore the place when a female voice whispered behind him:

"What do you think you're doing, Four? Trying to escape?"The voice laughed, and _two hands were on his chest, dragging him back and stroking his_ _slim body_ "I'm sorry, but you'll have to do more than that"

Klaus was frozen in place, eyes watering. Now he remembered, everything had come back with a blow, the memories fitting into place and he shrank, without uttering a single sound, lowering his head, and letting out an irregular sigh. His brain had tried to protect him, and those moments when he didn't know anything seemed like a dream now, because all Klaus wanted was to run out and bury himself in a hole forever and ever.

The woman _grabbed him by the shoulders_ and turned him over, and now he was looking at her for the first time since that whole thing started. She had white hair like snow, with perfectly fixed curls with so much spray that she should have used the whole pot. She was smiling malignantly at him, her eyes hungry. 

"Who are you?" Klaus dared to ask, his voice no more than a hoarse whisper. The woman smiled, _dragging her fingers by his leg until she reached the waist of her pants._ Klaus froze, his eyes fixed on the _hand,_ feeling _the other hand crawling through his belly,_ but he was concentrating on _that hand playing with the button of his leather_ _pants, but without unbuttoning it._

“I'm your brother Five's former employer, or perhaps I should say current boss? "The woman smiled and stood up, which caused Klaus to let out a sigh of relief before _she grabbed him by the arm_ without delicacy and dragged him onto a couch, the squeeze rising as he struggled. She threw him on the couch and Klaus fell on his back, the handcuffs digging into the soft skin of his wrists.

Klaus shrank, turning his head to the side and closing his eyes hard as she _climbed on top of him and sat on his hips._

"I'm The Handler, but you'll just call me mistress. Did you hear me, Four?" Her tone was hard, and when Klaus didn’t answer, _she grabbed his hair_ , turning him to her "Did you hear?"

"Y-yes mistress" Klaus replied, his voice breaking, a tear running down his temple. Handler smiled, leaning over, and giving him _a kiss on the lips,_ in which Klaus stood motionless, his lips pressed together. The Handler didn't seem bothered by it and let go of his hair, coming out of it.

"Great! Now come on, your brother's coming, and we don't want him to see you like this, do we? "Klaus shook his head and didn't even fight when she grabbed his arm this time, letting himself crawl to the ground in front of an armchair.

* * *

Klaus shrunk the whole time during the conversation between his brother and The Handler. He was embarrassed by his Five seeing him in that position, but this didn’t exceed the fear and dread that ran through his veins with _Handler's touch_.

He expected Five to do something. Five wouldn't leave him, of course. From what he remembered of the little devil when they were children, it was that Five was fiercely protective, once he had even managed to bring Luther to the ground when the big guy (at the time not that big) had hurt Klaus. Yes, yes, Five was going to save him _,_ he knew it, but at that exact moment he had to focus on the fact that the woman was touching him again.

Klaus let out a sigh when The Handler finally stopped, his breathing accelerated, _his cheeks sticky with the woman's spittle._

Klaus looked at Five. His brother was clearly agitated, although he seemed to try to hide his despair, it wasn’t working. Klaus was taken from his thoughts when gloved hands grabbed his biceps, dragging him to the door.

Klaus looked desperately at Five, but his brother didn’t move.

"Five!" Klaus shouted, hoping that his appeal would play some bell on his brother's head. Five got up, but just stared as he screamed and struggled, being dragged out of the room.

When they were in the hallway, he saw a third man erect a syringe and reinvigorated his fight. No. Absolutely not. He wasn't taking drugs. He was sober for Dave. The man grabbed his forearm and approached the syringe.

_No!_

_No!_

_Dave!_

_Dave!_

_Dave..._


	5. Impotence

Since he died, Ben had followed Klaus around, which was practically an invitation to misery. Watching Klaus collapse into an abyss inch by inch every day was torturous and sad.

Sometimes he felt guilty for not paying attention to Klaus when the two were children and he was still alive, but he dealt with his own load of problems during his lifetime, being forced to release horror once a week in special training and missions, in addition to keeping that creature contained, and this destroyed his humanity little by little.

Each time Ben unleashed horror, he felt a part of himself shattered as he saw the massacre _they_ were doing, killing people mercilessly, with a hunger that always hit Ben like a deaf pain in his head in _their_ days of inactivity _._

He’d never been able to control _them, they_ were living creatures and didn’t like to be restrained, just as the sea doesn’t like to be restrained. This caused him to relate to Klaus, and although they were not so close, they understood each other.

The same damn powers.

The only ones who hated their powers.

Ben would trade life with Vanya if it meant not having horror in his belly, and he was sure Klaus would do it too without even thinking.

They would do anything to get rid of their powers, and when Klaus was sedated with morphine after breaking his jaw when they were twelve, he began to descend downhill and Ben never did anything to stop it.

He's seen Klaus languishing over the years and he's never done anything. He turns Klaus into the night and never thought of asking why he was doing all that, why he was poisoning himself, why was he _killing himself?_

Ben remembered, he would never forget. He would never forget, when they were seventeen, the day that Ben and Diego found Klaus floating in the bathtub and Diego was desperate, doing the compressions on Klaus' chest and _screaming, screaming, screaming..._ but Ben was _frozen._ Frozen with his eyes fixed on Klaus' flaccid and pale figure, his eyes absorbing vision. The scattered bottles, white powder on the floor, everything... he was useless, and if it wasn't for Diego, Klaus would’ve died that night, just as Ben died a month later, consumed by the horror in his belly.

* * *

Klaus had always been a little crazy. But now he was absolutely insane.

Klaus had never obtained a driver's license for two reasons.

  1. He didn’t have a car and think it's useless to know how to drive when he could take a bus for a cheaper price.
  2. The DOT (Department of Transportation) knew Klaus couldn't tell dead people from living people. At least those who didn't have apparent injuries from afar.



Which made it more tiring and boring because Klaus could never go anywhere driving and he never denied or refuted the taunts and mockery of Diego and others about not knowing how to drive.

This also made Klaus drive an ice cream truck in broad daylight absolutely insane.

Despite this, Ben was enjoying it. He hasn't had a quality fun time in a long time and was willing to enjoy it if it lasted.

Ben was smiling like crazy, Diego was screaming about going faster, and Ben wrote down on his mental list to give Diego a one-sided sermon for encouraging Klaus just because he could, when suddenly everything froze in place.

Everything stopped moving. Ben turned to Diego, who was frozen with his mouth open, his arm bruised close to his chest. Then Klaus, who was smiling like a lunatic, his hands tight on the steering wheel, the nameplates _floating in the air._

Ben rose completely, looking around, his ghostly heart throbbing in his chest.

Hazel and Cha-Cha were frozen in the _air,_ as if they were _levitating_. Their faces were still in varied expressions of shock, their mouths open, as well as their arms and legs. Ben got out of the truck, looking briefly at Klaus before landing with his feet on the asphalt.

Luther was also frozen, his arms open and a briefcase in his right hand. Ben heard a gravel noise and turned to see Five, coming out from behind Luther, looking around cautiously, his eyes narrowed.

Five had stop the time? He could travel in time, so maybe he could freeze it too? Who knew? Perhaps Five developed his powers while in the solitude of revelation, he had certainly had plenty of time for it, since he spent forty-five years there.

Ben was taken from his reverie by a blue light and the appearance of a woman.

* * *

The woman was holding a gun in Klaus' temple and Ben was trying to get the other man's attention, but no matter what he did, Klaus didn't react to him at all.

Maybe he was too focused on the fact that that woman was touching him? Or maybe it was related to the fact that time was frozen, and Ben, being a ghost, wasn’t affected by it because he couldn’t influence the timeline, being dead.

But that didn't explain why Klaus couldn't see him, in fact, it just made everything even more confusing, causing him to question what Klaus' powers really covered. If they were so powerful, able to resist the outage of time, what else did they do?

Ben was curious, but that wasn't important now, he had to think of a way to get Klaus' attention so they could come up with a plan, Five didn't really seem able to do anything at the time, and the invisibility gave him an advantage.

* * *

Ben felt he could unleash Horror at that moment, and although ghostly tentacles would do nothing against the woman and Ben hadn't felt them since his death, it would somehow satisfy him.

But although he wanted to tear the woman to pieces, what Ben most wanted was to wrap Klaus in a blanket and hug him forever, he could leave the protection part with Five, who could actually exert some influence on the physical world.

Unable to do anything else, Ben had taken a crouching posture next to Klaus and whispered words of comfort in his ear, _such as "Don't worry, Five will save you"_ or _"I'm here, Klaus, I won't leave you"_ and other things. 

Ben felt more imposing than ever since his death, (ever since, in fact, life with Reginald weren’t roses and daisies) even in those times when he watched without doing anything while Klaus was raped or beaten. He felt imposing, yes, but this time it was different, because this time he couldn't even offer comfort to Klaus as he did in those situations, and it made him angry with himself.

Anger at not being able to do anything to stop what was happening.

Anger at not being able to even offer comfort and a sense of security, saying _"I'm here”_.

Hatred, hatred of that despicable woman who was touching his brother like that without even a single shred of guilt in her eyes.

And angry with Five.

Ben knew he shouldn't be mad at Five, his brother was doing everything he could not to make matters worse and was imposing just like Ben, appearing to be in even more conflict.

Five, you obviously felt guilty about what was going on. He probably thought Klaus was going through all that was his fault because that woman _was_ his ex-boss, and he had set her up before, making her prepare and attack Klaus as some sick method of revenge.

Ben knew that although Five was indifferent and cold to the other six Hargreeves, he cared a lot about them and would do everything to protect them.

Dammit! Five had spent _forty-five years_ trying to come back to save them from an apparent apocalypse! Who would do that if they didn't care about the family?! Ben knew that they were dysfunctional and that he technically wasn't even a part of it anymore, but they were still a family, broken and emotionally constipated, but a family.

And Five was showing that he cared right now, with the spark of anger in his eyes, his fists clenched next to his body, the way he squeaked his teeth and his fingers writhed as if they were crying out for a gun to kill the woman who was hurting their brother, and most of all, the _burning worry_ in his eyes, which leaped out to Klaus in despair from time to time.

And Ben had seen it. He had seen Five show emotions that told how he cared that he worries about his brothers. When Five returned from the future, Klaus was asleep and Ben went out to wander around the house while he waited, and ended up stopping in Five's old room, and the little devil was there, wearing the old Academy blazer and adjusting his tie in front of the mirror.

Five had been staring in the mirror for a while, and Ben saw his brother's eyes water as he looked at the Umbrella Academy insignia, the words _"Ut Malum Pluvia"_ sewn into the fabric, the designs of the ray, mask, skull and umbrella standing out in red and white in Five's navy blue blazer.

Five had passed his fingers through the insignia and when he went out into the hallway, Ben saw him stopping at the door of each of the brothers' bedroom, stopping for a while longer in Ben's, and when he passed through the living room, he saw Klaus, who was asleep on the couch. Ben had heard him mutter "I'm sorry" and leave as if nothing had happened, the expressionless mask back in place.

Ben shook his head, coming out of the memories and returning to the present time, fixing his eyes on Five, who stared intensely at the woman.

Five's face might have been unimpressive, but Ben knew he cared about all of them, and dared even to say that the little gremlin _loved_ them _._ He loved them so much that he would do anything to keep them safe, which is why Ben wasn't mad at Five for shaking the woman’s hand, Ben himself clinging to Klaus, surprised to feel he could actually touch his shaky brother and not cross him as he normally did since his death.

* * *

They showed up from the woman's office and Five wasn’t in sight. Klaus was lying on the floor, unconscious, and Ben was watching the woman carefully tamper with several documents on her desk, but unable to understand a word when he looked over the woman's shoulder, the words seemed to be in another language, none that Ben could recognize, although he spoke seven languages. Perhaps Klaus, who knew more languages than any of the Hargreeves siblings, due to hearing foreign ghosts speaking in his ear since he was a baby, could read what was written, but Ben unfortunately couldn't.

The woman got up and walked to Klaus, who was still unconscious. She took out a syringe and injected something into Klaus' neck, who didn’t move. After that, the woman returned to the table and took the papers again, continuing to work. Ben wondered what was in that syringe but was interrupted by a sound.

A gentle groan cut off the silence, and the woman raised her eyes from the papers, as Ben raised his head, floating as far as Klaus was moving, forgetting to walk as he normally did as a way of feeling human in a hurry to reach Klaus. 

Maybe he could see him now that they weren't in an area with frozen time, but when Klaus didn't react when Ben appeared in his field of view, looking around with confused and cloudy eyes, Ben walked away, sitting in an armchair in the corner in the room and watching Klaus rummage until the woman interrupted him, seemingly bored by the show and wanting a second round of unwanted touches and despair.

Ben crossed his arms and pulled the hood up, hiding his face and looking at his feet, looking away as he always did when Klaus sold himself to get drugs.

Long ago, Klaus and Ben had made a list of rules of coexistence. Which included as one of the most important points, that Ben would look away when Klaus was in obscene activities, a rule that Ben fulfilled most of the time, but always made way when Klaus wasn’t going through it by his own free will.

But now, after seeing that he couldn’t comfort Klaus at all, no matter how many times he spoke in Klaus' ear, Ben abandoned his usual tactic, which he had done before and refrained from sitting and waiting, like a spectator watching a football match.

Soon, Five appeared, and Ben observed, with slightly renewed hope, his now much older brother sits down to talk to the woman that Ben now knew to be The Handler.

Klaus was shrunk, and it looked like he’d given up and was letting The Handler touch him, but Ben knew it was because Klaus was too weak to fight and it would only generate conflict, and Ben knew Klaus was _afraid_ of Handler.

Ben had never thought such a thing would happen to Klaus. Of course, his brother had already been in the most unimaginable situations, but it had never crossed Ben's mind that Klaus would be held hostage by a psychopathic woman and sex offender.

Ben looked with his eyes down Five foaming with anger and Klaus sinking into his pit, as always, the impotence taking even more account.

He expected Five to do something, but deep down Ben knew it would be risky to do something now and Five was a strategic person, but that didn't stop the anger when Five did nothing but observe, leaving Ben with a feeling of frustration in his chest and ghostly tears burning in his eyes as he followed Klaus into the hallway and saw him being drugged without being able to lift a single finger in protest.


	6. 1 2 3 - 5 6 7

Klaus felt like he was floating in the ocean. Everything was silent, the thing he's always wanted all his life.

Silence.

Although he felt happy and light, it seemed that something was trying to invade his lull, and Klaus wasn’t happy about it, but couldn’t do anything when a strong light shone, and he slowly opened his heavy eyes.

Immediately, while looking around the room, memories of the latest events invaded. Klaus knew he couldn't escape what was happening, but he enjoyed the moments without memories that the drugs provided him with.

Oh, yeah. He knew he'd been drugged, that feeling was unmistakable, and the last thing Klaus remembered was someone pulling a syringe.

He didn’t know whether to scream in anger and destroy everything in his path or curl up in a ball and cry until all the liquid in his body went extinct. Honestly, he thought he could do both at the same time, but the point was that he wasn't sober anymore.

Dave was disappointed, for sure, and Klaus knew that even if he could conjure up his ghost, Dave would look at him in disgust and say something like _"You're just a useless junkie, I can't believe how I could be with someone disgusting like you"._ Klaus was sure that hearing this come out of his beautiful Dave's mouth would hurt more than a stab wound to the chest.

For now, Klaus had to focus on the present, and as much as it hurt to think that, Dave was less important at the time.

Looking around with his eyelids apart, Klaus realized that his vision was blurry, and he could see only flat colors like scattered gray and white. They must have given him strong drugs to knock him out that way, they probably knew of his high drug intolerance due to his track record.

Klaus took a deep breath, feeling something wet running down the sides of his head and heard sounds of wet sighs and groans. Belatedly, he realized that it was he who was making those sounds and the dripping liquid were his _tears._

_He sobbed, trying to curl up in a futile effort to calm himself down with a kind of hug, but his limbs were so heavy and Klaus couldn't move and he couldn't breathe, he couldn't breathe and he was going to die, he was going to die..._

_The sound of gunfire echoed in his ears and grenades were exploding and Klaus was frozen, he couldn't move and he was going to die, a grenade was going to explode, he would die for Napalm and suddenly Dave was there and he was bleeding and Dave! Dave! No! No! Medic! Dammit! We need a mediiiiiic!!_

_There was so much blood and Dave was dying over and over again and Klaus still couldn't move and he was going to suffocate, suffocate and the blood was Dave's, there was a hole in his chest, Klaus couldn't stop the bleeding and what he had advanced all the training that his father had undergone him in childhood if he couldn't, couldn't save Dave?!_

_Dave!_

_Dave!_

_Dave..._

* * *

Klaus opens his eyes and the first thing he realizes is that he fainted, probably by hyperventilation, but Klaus doesn't know, Ben had always been the expert on terms like that, not him. Klaus is useless, always has been and always will be and his family will never see him as anything but an addict because he is useless and has always screwed up and-

“Kl... Kla...” What was that sound? It looked like a TV in the static, with the image cutting and the sound failing. Klaus clears his ears and hears “Ca... ou... ear... me...?”

Klaus turned his head in the direction of sound, finding it much easier than last time, but he couldn't see anything, and everything was silent again and he sighs.

He slowly worked to move and accommodate in a more comfortable position in what he perceives to be a bed with gray and white sheets, very boring. Klaus would’ve put on a rainbow blanket and his pillow would have the glitter print, not this boring gray and white thing.

After what seems to be an eternity, Klaus managed to sit on the pillow, though his arms now trembled with the effort he’d made to do so.

Looking around the room, Klaus realizes he was completely alone. It was a medium-sized room, more inclined to the small than the large, and the only furniture was the single bed on which he lay, but there were drawers embedded in the wall, who, Klaus noted, had no handles to pull. There were three doors, one that Klaus assumed was for the bathroom (hopefully yes, he needed to pee desperately) another to the exit, (which had no doorknob or lock and Klaus knew it was locked from the outside) and the last, which he didn’t know what was for.

He spent a long time staring at the same flat and gray walls, the same gray sheets, white drawers embedded in the wall, and the doors, which were impossibly gray as well. Didn't these Commission people have a sense of style? If Klaus were the owner of this place, he would make a makeover immediately, starting with this room, which desperately needed colors. But Klaus wasn't and the person who was the boss was currently holding him captive against his brother and touching him in places he didn't want.

Klaus shook his head, pushing away thoughts about The Handler, he didn’t want to panic and faint again. Instead, to distract himself and pass the time, Klaus found himself thinking about Five and the rest of his siblings.

He'd never liked Luther, not that he remembers, anyway. In his childhood, Number One always wanted to exceed his father's expectations and did anything for it, which included agreeing with his father about his opinion of Klaus, and occasionally intimidating him, sometimes Diego saved him with a sure-ass knife.

Diego has always been competitive, wanting to overtake Luther in all competitions and come first, fighting with Klaus a few times and pushing him away for being 'annoying', but Diego was also protective, and Klaus remembers with affection and sadness the nights he had crawled into the bed of Number Two when Ben and Five were unavailable or because he wanted Diego to embrace him as a human shield , protecting him from everything. Number Two had never asked why Klaus was dirty with leaves and mud on some nights, and Klaus thanked him. In addition, Diego was the only one of his brothers who spoke to him after they left home and gave him a place to sleep from time to time. Diego was Klaus' favorite brother, well, the favorite living brother.

With Allison, his feelings were relative. Since they were little and she’d learned how to use her powers, she became very convinced and used her powers to force them to do or say things, and Klaus had never liked it, but when they were thirteen, weeks after Five's ran away, Klaus sneaked into her room in the half hour of inactivity before curfew and they did each other's makeup and painted their nails, the makeup and nails became a mess, but they were having fun, and after that, it became a ritual, every week they did it, practicing on each other. That's until Ben's death, of course.

Five. Well, Klaus doesn't have many memories with him, it had been almost seventeen years since Five ran away, and he was different from what he was now, even though the personality was still similar. Despite this, Klaus remembers sneaking into Five's room at night as he did on Diego’s or Ben’s, and also sitting next to him with Vanya while he wrote thousands of numbers and talking about them, how he would travel back in time and why he had to use these calculations, and although Klaus didn’t understand at the time, (and still doesn't understand, speaking of which) it was fascinating to observe Five, it distracted him momentarily from the things that bothered him.

Klaus also knew that Five was fiercely protective, he had once taken a beating from Reginald for meddling in Klaus' training, after he had asked why Klaus was crying and dirty at night, and following them to the mausoleum on the terrace and jumping there to comfort Klaus. Five had never done it again after that, but Klaus had been grateful, that night was certainly the best he ever had in the mausoleum.

Ben certainly won the best brother trophy. He was a little distant, dealing with horror, but he let Klaus sleep with him when the ghosts got too high and understood him. He understood Klaus' fear of his powers because he was also afraid of his own.

When Ben died, Klaus felt that the world had plummeted, Five was no longer enough, now Ben was gone too. But Klaus knew he’d never really felt Ben's death, not really, because just two weeks after his brother had died, Klaus had summoned him to his funeral, and they have never been separated since.

Klaus felt guilty about trapping Ben to the land of the living when he had the opportunity to move on, and Ben should feel sorry for him or something when he stayed, because there could be no other reason for him to stay, Klaus was a failure and kept disappointing Ben.

And Vanya. Klaus had always liked her, unlike his other siblings, in which there was always a reason to rethink the decision to like them, but Vanya never gave him that feeling. She had always been quiet, distant, playing her violin, and for years, Klaus took comfort in the sound of her songs muffling the ghosts, being leaning against the wall that divided her rooms, or curled up in her bed as she played.

She always seemed to light up when Klaus praised her music, saying it was the best thing he’d ever heard. Vanya blushed and said she wasn't that good, but she had a little smile on her face and Klaus smiled back, hugging her before running away and... those times are gone, and sometimes Klaus wondered if that was good or bad. Because although he would never see his father again, he would never see his brothers again either.

* * *

Klaus was eight and was in the mausoleum again. It was dark and he felt that the walls would crush him, the ghosts screamed at all the lungs (nonexistent) in his ears, and Klaus wrapped his little body and put his hands in his ears, but it didn't help and he could still hear them screaming loud and clear.

_Klaus!_

_Save us, Klaus!_

_Klaus! Klaus!_

_Why are you alive?!_

_Bring us back, Klaus! Klaus!_

_Klaus!_

_I'm gonna kill you!_

_My wife killed me and I'm gonna kill you!_

_Klaus! Why are you alive?!_

_Klaus! Klaus!_

_I'm gonna to rip you off as he tore me up and pull your intestines out!_

_I'm gonna hang you!_

_Klaus!_

_I'm gonna crush you!_

_Klaus!_

_Klaus!_

_I'm gonna get inside you and make you bleed until you don't remember your own name!_

_Klaus! Klaus!_

Klaus woke up with a silent scream in his throat, turned aside and cried. He hated it. He hated the mausoleum, hated the ghosts, both of which Klaus knew he would never run away from, he would forever be stuck with them, with nowhere to go and with one or two hours of sleep a night until the day of his death.

He curled up in a ball as much as he could, hugging Dave's dog tags on his chest and sobbed and cried until the tears dried and Klaus stared at the wall, his eyes glazed over, which was only interrupted when he heard a hum and the sound of a lock sliding.

Immediately, Klaus sat upright, fearing that it was The Handler coming in to torment him again, though he regretted it almost instantly, colorful dots dancing in his vision and his body falling back into bed.

When he finally opened his eyes again, there was a woman of his age sitting in a chair who suddenly appeared there, arms folded. She wore a completely black outfit and a boot that Klaus absolutely approved of, and on another occasion would borrow (Nah, who was he cheating on? He'd steal the boots, of course).

"Hello!" Klaus sat down and waved HELLO's hand, not believing in how hoarse his voice was. He cleared his throat and said “Who would you be to grace me with your visit in this incredibly boring, colorless room? Did you come to bring the food? I'm not seeing anything, but I'd like waffles!"

The woman just stared at him inexpressively, looking at him from the top to the bottom. He imagined that he wasn’t as beautiful as usual, after all this ordeal, he certainly wasn't as impeccable as ever, Klaus could only imagine the view she was having.

"I'm Lila, we're going to spend a lot of time together finding out all about you"


	7. First Step

Klaus flashed her, looking at the proud and curious expression in a way he didn't want 'Lila' to have on her face.

"What... ?" What did she mean by that? She couldn't be talking like The Handler, could she? Because Klaus didn't know if he could handle being touched by both. Of course, he he`d already had sex with several people at the same time, (Ben always said he was disgusting and, honestly, he agreed) but this time it wasn't optional, he wasn't the one who had offered to do so. No. He was being held captive, held hostage, and that wasn't cool at all, it reminded him of Hazel and Cha-Cha, although they didn't do anything down there while Klaus was with them. "What did you mean by that?"

“It doesn't matter” Lila walked to where the built-in drawers were on the wall and pressed her hand on a panel that Klaus hadn`t noticed in his panic. A green light shone, one of the drawers opened and Lila pulled something from inside the drawer, which when she turned, Klaus realized they were clothes “Dress up, I'll be back in five minutes”

Then she threw the clothes on him and walked out the door without saying another word.

Klaus lifted his clothes, examining them. They were boring and ashes as he expected. A gray T-shirt, sweatpants, and a pair of underwear, that was it. They didn't even give him shoes! Well, shoes didn't matter that much, he had already run out of shoes several times on the streets for being assaulted and stuff, but socks were important! How would he live without socks?! How would he survive?!His feet would get wet and they would rot, and he was going to die, he was-

He stopped, taking a deep breath. Now it wasn't time for a panic attack, Ben wasn't here to calm him down and he couldn't faint again, Lila said she'd be back in five minutes. Ha! Five. That's ironic, he was sure she did it on purpose.

Klaus dressed as fast as he could with his limbs still half-soft and ran to one of the two remaining doors, which Lila hadn’t entered and tested the doorknob. Locked. He went to the other, which opened when he turned, revealing a small bathroom. A tiny shower, toilet, sink and... Was that a toothbrush and toothpaste?

He raised his eyebrows, because come on! What kind of kidnappers give their captives a toothbrush?!

Klaus was sure that was some reverse psychology to make him more comfortable, but, well, it wasn't working!

Breathing deep, Klaus held the sides of the small sink hard, looking at the miserable image of himself in the mirror. Now he saw why Lila looked strange at him before, it looked like he had fallen into a garbage can and collapsed from a building.

His hair looked like a rat's nest and his dark circles prominent, the eyeliner was blurry, and he had dry tear marks on his face. The last things weren’t really a novelty, no, the worst part was the huge hickey on his neck, purple and red, it looked like he had taken a punch.

Klaus smothered a hiccup and turned on the tap, throwing water on his face and wiping away the tears. As soon as he was adjusting the cords of the sweatpants after pissing, the noise of a click and a buzz came from the cell, which Klaus supposed to be from the door, and steps going in.

"Come on, Hargreeves, get out of there!" It was Lila. Klaus put one last squeeze on Dave's dog tags before sticking them under his shirt and leaving the bathroom, finding Lila with her arms folded outside.

She looked at him from top to bottom before leaving through the door, where two armed men were still.

"Follow me"

* * *

They handcuffed him again, but this time they were special handcuffs, which were thick and had a flashing red light. When Klaus asked Lila what they were for, she shrugged and said they were too precautionary for his powers.

Klaus didn’t understand why they arrested him with these handcuffs; his powers were useless, and he could do nothing in a hall full of professional assassins. In fact, Klaus was even happy by the handcuffs, at least he couldn't see the spirits, he could only imagine how many ghosts each of these people had, which gave him creeps.

He'd keep the handcuffs.

Lila led them through so many runners that Klaus gave up trying to memorize the path. In the end, they ended up in another building, in which on the way they put a blindfold in their eyes. He almost panicked about being in the dark, but a whisper in his ear calmed him, and the blind came out as fast as it came, giving way to a huge room.

The room was so large, Klaus thought seven football courts would fit there and there would still be room. There were several equipment that Klaus could never name scattered throughout the room, but they went through it all and went toward large doors in one of the corners, which opened slowly, revealing the last person Klaus wanted to see at the time.

“Hello, Little Four”

* * *

Klaus was sitting on a chair next to Lila, staring at his bare feet, twisting his fingers on his shirt, the uncomfortable position of his handcuffed arms making them hurt.

"Do you know why you're here, Four? "The Handler asked, and Klaus, without looking at her, shook his head, repressing a sigh.

"You're here because I need you to hold Five, but mostly because _I like you_. You're _interesting_ , Four." Lila, with her arms folded, pretended to gag, turning her eyes.

"Ugh, mom, gross" Handler laughed, taking a sip of her elegant goblet, which was supposed to cost two legs and an arm so expensive it looked.

Internally, Klaus was in a whirlwind of thoughts. He’d managed to suppress his exclamation of surprise and wide eyes, but his heart was pounding hard in his chest.

_Mom?_ Lila called The Handler mom?! Did that woman have a daughter?! Klaus took a deep breath. Maybe Lila could help him if she found out what was really going on with him, maybe, maybe... But no, no. If Lila were really Handler's daughter, she sure knew everything and wouldn't help him, but what if she didn't?What if she could help him? What if–

“Four!” Klaus raised his head, frightened, the image of his father going through his head, but when he looked up, it was just The Handler, which was also not very comforting.

"I’m sorry" said Klaus, and when the woman's gaze intensified, he lowered his head and added in a whisper “Mistress”

Lila laughed "You really dug deep into him!" The Handler stared at her and the smile disappeared from Lila's face.

"Get out" Said the older woman, pointing to the door with her hand that didn’t hold the cup.

"But–" Lila began, looking briefly at Klaus before looking at Handler again.

"Get out" Lila looked at him one last time before turning around and leaving without another word. The Handler turned to him when the door closed, a shark smile on her lips.

"Where were we?"

* * *

"As I said, you’re very interesting, Four, and I would like to know and see everything about you, as your powers, for example" Said The Handler, and Klaus raised his eyebrows.

"I think you've confused yourself with which Hargreeves you're talking with, my powers are useless!" He exclaimed Klaus, a hysterical laugh escaping from his lips before he could stop it.

"Oh, on the contrary, Four, your powers are very useful, you are perfect for me, for the Commission" Said Handler, rising and turning around the table until she faced him "I'm going to explore _every little bit of you_ and no one can stop me"

Then she began to kiss him aggressively and Klaus turned off his mind from that point. 

* * *

The Handler was touching him again, but Klaus was far from understanding it, he felt distant, he knew what was going on, but he couldn't feel any of it, it was like he wasn't even there, and when the woman finally walked away, Klaus took a while to recover, noting that he was now alone in the room.

Klaus raised his head from the couch he was lying on, wondering how he got there, just as the door opened, revealing The Handler, Lila, and armed men behind them.

"Oh, great! You're back!" He exclaimed The Handler, walking up to Klaus and stroking his cheek, an action which Klaus flashed slowly, looking at her, frozen in place. The woman addressed the men "Take him, let's start the first tests now, we don't have time to waste"

_Tests?_ Klaus blinked, confused, but then he was being lifted and carried out of the room, looking around with blurry eyes. They were in the huge room again, and they were dragging him into a large glass box, where inside there was a metal chair with restraints on the arms. Seemed uncomfortable.

The men pulled him out of the handcuffs that held his arms behind his back and pushed him to the chair, closing the restraints, which dug into his wrists, effectively trapping him in the chair, but Klaus didn't even notice, looking barefoot and putting them on the ground. It was cold.

“Number Four! Pay attention!" It was Dad? Was he berating Klaus for being a failure with his powers and in training again? Klaus didn’t know, but something forging by his body and he shuddered, feeling cold. His feet were cold, and his hands were numbly. He just wanted to sleep.

Eventually, he stopped feeling that strange sensation and was soon being dragged down the aisles again. The next minute, Klaus found himself falling to the floor of his cell, but before he could turn around, the door closed, and he was alone.

* * *

Klaus spent the next few days in a whirlwind of nightmares and withdrawal symptoms, which weren’t helping in his current mental state, but one question that never left his mind was:

_Where was Ben? Where was his brother?_

Ben had always been a constant in Klaus' life, always hovering around and telling him to stay sober, and as much as Klaus always claimed bad things about his brother, Ben knew he wasn't serious because he was afraid of being alone on the streets with no one and Ben was his only consolation and he knew him better than anyone , even more than Dave.

It hurt, yes, to think that, but as much as he loved Dave deeply, they didn't know each other well enough, not like Klaus and Ben, he and his brother had been together since birth.

He never loved a person like he loved Dave, ever. Klaus loved his brothers, yes, but it was different, he didn't feel romantic about them at all, (Thank god, he wasn’t Luther and Allison) they were his brothers, he loved them as brothers, but Dave...Dave was the first person who really cared about him. Klaus might be being a bit of an idiot (Ben would say asshole), because Diego cared about him, Klaus knew, and Ben, obviously, for some unknown reason, had stood by him and cared about him, but if Ben cared so much, where was he? 

* * *

Klaus garbled with water from the sink and spat, trying to take away the taste of vomit. He felt terrible. His whole body hurt and he was sweating like a pig, his head throbbing so much that it looked like hammers were hitting him repeatedly, and Klaus just wanted it to stop, but instead he curled up in a ball on the bed and squeezed his arms around his stomach, closing his eyes hard.

After what seemed for hours, he heard the familiar noise of the electronic lock beeping and the hum of the latch opening. Klaus opened his eyes only a crack, looking to see one of the armed men at the door, who took a step to the side, revealing who was behind.

“Five!”

* * *

"How are you doing?" Asked Five where he was sitting on the edge of the bed. He was looking seriously at Klaus, analyzing his messy expression, for sure, his eyes fixed on the huge brand of hickey on his neck. Klaus moved uncomfortably and analyzed Five as well. He was wearing a tiny suit of his size and looked like a little businessman. On another occasion, Klaus would be commenting on this with Five and probably getting a slap, but now he just moaned miserably, letting out a bitter laugh.

“Just peachy! You know, my brother abandoned me in this fucking hell where a lady doesn’t know something called personal space and I'm going through the worst withdrawal I've ever had in my life! What else?”

Five shuddered and said "I’m Sorry" Klaus laughed hysterically, struggling to put himself in a sitting position on the bed. Five leaned over and helped him, Klaus hit his hands and moved away. 

"Oh, yes, you know what else? These psychopaths are interested in my powers, which is weird, because the last time I checked they're useless, just like me! That's what you guys think, isn't it? 'Klaus, you're a useless addict,' 'Number Four, you're a total disappointment!', 'Why are you here, Klaus?!', 'Go away Klaus! We don't want your useless comments!', 'Shut up, Klaus!', 'Stop being like this, Klaus!', 'Get out of this, Klaus!', 'Leave m–"

“Klaus!” It was Five. Klaus had forgotten he was there. His brother had grabbed his shoulders and looked him right in the eye.

Klaus stared at him, closing his mouth with a click. Five didn't say anything, but Klaus felt one of Five's tiny fingers hitting a pattern on his shoulders.

I – M – S – O – R – R – Y

I – C – A – R – E – A – B – O – U – T – Y – O – U

Klaus thought he'd forgotten the Morse Code that his father had taught him in childhood almost completely, remembering only the pattern of S.O.S, which he used at the motel to get the attention of the police woman. But apparently not. He remembered, and now his brother was practically hugging him (Five would deny it later, he was sure, the little gremlin) and hitting a pattern on his shoulders.

Five continued, his fingers hesitant, and Klaus' heart broke when he understood Five's message and he wrapped his arms around Five, who became tense, but hugged him back and continued hitting the fingers, this time on the Klaus’ back.

I – L – O – V – E – Y – O – U

R – E – A – L – L – Y

I – L – L – G – E – T – Y – O – U – O – U – T – O – F – T – H – I – S

P – R – O – M – I – S – E


	8. Confusion

Klaus stared at the ground for a long time after Five was forced to leave by the man in the hallway.

He was twisting Dave's dog tags in his hands, repeatedly passing his fingers through the letters that formed the name of his beloved David.

K

A

T

Z

D

A

V

I

D

D

I

V

A

D

Z

T

A

K

K A T Z D A V I D

D A V I D K A T Z

David Katz, his beautiful boy. The love of his life, with those beautiful blue eyes and blond hair. His kindness… he was perfect, and Klaus wanted him so badly...

* * *

White, white, white. Gray, gray, gray. White, white, white. Gray, gr– Zzzz! Clic!

Klaus raised his eyes to the door, sitting down. Maybe it was Five again? He already missed his brother and had only been a few hours since his visit. Five had said that he’d been allowed to visit Klaus every four cases he solved, and although Klaus didn’t know what it was about, he hoped Five would resolve them as much as possible, so they would see each other.

The door was opening and with disappointment and a pang of fear, Klaus saw that it was Lila again. She didn't look any different since the last time they saw each other days before, but she had a badge on her chest, it said:

_EXPERIMENT 4 PRICIPAL GUARD_

Klaus didn't know what the words meant, but he was sure as hell wasn't good.

"Get up" Lila ordered. She had the thick handcuffs with the flashing light in her hand and Klaus stood up, staring at her "Turn around"

While Lila handcuffed him like last time, Klaus stared at the ceiling, his head full of thoughts with Ben and Dave. Soon, a man grabbed him by the arm and began pushing him down the hall, Lila in front of them.

* * *

When they finally arrived in the huge room, Klaus was already nervous, his heart was in a head.

This time they didn’t go to Handler's office, instead the men attached him to a metal chair in a glass box, which looked familiar, but Klaus couldn’t remember why.

Klaus looked up, wincing when his eyes found Handler's. The woman had a mean smile on her lips, her eyes with a frightening glow, which made Klaus cringe.

There were seven people in white lab coats around Handler, all with clipboards and notebooks in their arms, curious and anxious expressions on their faces. Klaus looked for one that seemed uncomfortable or sorry, but there were none.

"You guys got ready for the party, huh? What's today's entertainment?" None of the people said anything, but The Handler laughed.

"Good afternoon, Four!" Exclaimed The Handler. Klaus didn’t answer, but the woman didn’t seem troubled, her smile widening "I'm sure you're wondering why you're here, and don't worry, you'll soon know! For now, all you need to know is that we’ll ask you a series of questions, which you’ll have to answer and sincerely, or will suffer the consequences!"  
The Handler smiled brightly and sat in a leather chair as people spread out, all pulsing with excitement and curiosity.

"First question" Started one of the people in a lab coat, a woman with brown hair "What is your full name and date of birth? "

Klaus frowned. What? He thought they'd subject him to much worse questions, but this? This was making him more and more confused, the Commission is a bunch of freaks.

"Answer" Handler said softly while pressing a button on a remote control. Klaus felt rays of electricity pass through his body and shuddered, biting his lip.

“Klaus Hargreeves” He squealed.

"Date of birth?"?” The brown-haired woman asked. She had a badge on her chest with 'Elisa' written on it.

"October 1st, 1989" Klaus sighed, looking at his lap, as more rays of electricity passed through his body.

"Great" Elisa noted something on her clipboard "First word? "

“What?” Klaus questioned faintly, frowning "I don't know that!"

“Hum!” Elisa noted on her clipboard, another shock went through her body, longer than the others.

“Argh!” Klaus took a deep breath, bowing forward, his head down.

"Name of your first nanny? "Asked another researcher, a man with blond hair who frighteningly reminded Klaus of Dave. Klaus looked away.

"I don't remember. Aah! I don't know, Mrs. Shaddy? She liked to sing"

"Right" Said the man, noting on his board, he had Arnold written on his clipboard"How did she die?"

Klaus now remembered her and many others before Grace, who followed him throughout his childhood, all with sprained necks at abnormal angles.

"She– I think she broke her neck... I don't know exactly... Aaah!" Klaus' body shook with electricity and he suffocated a hiccup.

"It was interesting how it happened, actually" Said The Handler, casually holding a goblet in one hand “You know, your little sister, Number Seven, didn't like oatmeal, so every time her nannies tried to make her eat, Seven would kill them. With her powers" The Handler whispered the last part and Klaus opened his eyes, opening his mouth to say something, although he didn't know what, when the woman pressed the button again and another shock wave went through his body. It was long time than the others, and when it was finally over, Klaus was panting, and tears flowed through his eyes.

"If you behave and answer our questions, I can offer you other information like this, I'm sure you'd like to know more, Four" Honestly, Klaus was curious and in shock at the information he had received, because how Vanya, litt– No. Not Little. Klaus hated that word now. But he still wondered how his little sister could have powers and how he never knew! But although he liked to know, Klaus wouldn't exchange information for it, what he really wanted was for The Handler to stop shocking him. So, Klaus nodded. If he really got something, it would be a bonus, because although it was selfish that he didn't want to find out more about his sister to tell her later, he didn't want to get hurt anymore. 

“Great!” Exclaimed The Handler, taking a sip of his cup before turning to Elisa, Arnold, and the others “Go on”

"Favorite toy? "Asked Arnold, and when Klaus said nothing, his mouth opened in shock, Handler pressed the button and Klaus let out a whistle of pain.

“Mr. Weed” Klaus remembered him, it was a stuffed unicorn that Ben presented him on his fourteenth birthday, and Klaus named him Mr. Weed, although Ben was deeply outraged (That idiot) and had Klaus change the unicorn's name, but Klaus secretly continued to call him Mr. Weed, and he was almost sure that Ben knew it.

"First ghost that was friendly to you? "Asked Elisa, raising her eyes from her clipboard.

“What?” Klaus frowned "Ghosts are _not_ friendly! They scream and scream! My own personal choir!"

“Four, not all ghosts are evil and aggressive, there’re some willing to cooperate, you just don't remember that, they made you forget" Commented The Handler, casually turning the remote between her fingers, Klaus' eyes fixed on that movement, his mind trying to unravel what she said "Next question!"

* * *

After what seemed like hours of questions that only confused Klaus, the researchers spread across the room and two people in suit entered. Elisa took a step forward, looking at him inexpressively through the glass, Klaus felt like a lab rat.

"Now, Number Four, we want you to tell us how many ghosts in this room you can count"

Klaus looked around, but the room was empty unless for him, The Handler, the researchers, and the pair in the suit. But then suddenly, his vision shone blue, and it was as if someone had turned a key and unlocked a door inside him, and the groans and cries of the ghosts suddenly became present.

_Klaus! Klaus!_

_Save us, Klaus!_

_She killed me! He strangled me and slit my throat!_

_He opened my belly and pulled my intestines out and left me to die slowly!_

_She killed me! Shot in the head!_

_Klaus! Klaus!_

_KLAUS! KLAUS!_

"No, no, no, no, no...” Klaus writhed in the chair, trying to reach out to cover his ears, but it wasn't working and they were getting louder they were surrounding him, and Dad had arrested him here! _Dad! Let me out! Please! I'm not afraid anymore! Dad!_

“Number Four! Concentrate!" His father was back, he was going to leave him there for another three hours and Klaus was going to suffocate, the ghosts would kill him! They would tear him to pieces like their killers and Klaus would die!

Waves of electricity were rushing through his body and Klaus screamed, opening his eyes, not realizing that he’d closed them in the first place. Klaus was in a large room, he was in the Commission, they were holding him captive, he wasn't in the mausoleum, his father was dead.

“Number Four! How many ghosts are in this room? "Someone was talking, and Klaus ran his eyes through the ghosts, trying to tell them how many of them were there, but his head was dizzy, and he couldn't tell, they were so many.

"I don't know! That's a lot of them!" Klaus screamed, shaking his head, and looking away from the horrible monsters huddled up behind the suit duo and Handler.

The Handler narrowed her eyes at him, putting the cup aside, and looking him in the eye, she said to the duo:

"Dismissed"

The room became quieter when the two finally went out the big backs, their entourages behind them.

"Now, Four, how many ghosts are in this room?"

* * *

When the men and Lila, (who had been watching him from afar throughout the experience) returned, Klaus almost screamed with relief, and let them handcuff him, but froze when they began to drag him to Handler's office, where she was sitting on a couch, her hands crossed on her lap.

Klaus was thrown to the ground at the woman's feet, letting out a groan as he rolled to the side, his arms twisted uncomfortably. Handler lowered herself and pulled him onto the couch, lying down and beginning to caress him.

"You did a good job today, though you were a little naughty" _She patted him on the nose_ and Klaus sniffed, swerved his eyes "So I'm going to have fun making you suffer, come on. "

The Handler stood up, _grabbing him by the arm_ _and pulling him_ toward a discreet door in the background. As they passed through the door, Klaus found himself in the most elegant and chic room he had ever seen.

The woman pushed him to the huge bed on a platform, _riding on top of him_. Klaus shuddered, trembling with fear, writhing.

"No, please don't do that" Begged Klaus when the woman took off his handcuffs and _undressed him from his shirt, her fingers going through the waist of Klaus' sweatpants_.

"Don't worry about it" Said The Handler, _holding his arms_ at the head of the bed with different handcuffs, smiling at him, a starvation glow in her eyes "We don't have time for the full package" She ran her fingers down his waist, making him shudder and retreat "But I'll settle for what I can today"

"Why are you doing this? "Asked Klaus, a tear dripping down the side of his head and in his ears.

"Why am I doing this?” She bowed her head, _kissing his chest_ , Klaus felt _dirty_ , he missed Dave "I'm doing this because I like you, and I know it makes Five furious" She purred, _stroking his cheek_ "You and your family don't know anything. You don't know how much Little Five cares about you, that he would do anything to keep you safe. I don't know why I didn't think of taking one of you before, Five would be much more cooperative".

The Handler _moved to his neck_ , where the hickey was there in all its glory, though a little faded since the last time.

"I love you, Four, you're beautiful” She smiled, and began _sucking his neck again_ , at the same point as before. Klaus turned his head and closed his eyes, silent tears running down, trying to imagine it was Dave, not this scary woman, but couldn't.

* * *

When the woman finally moved away, Klaus was in a mess of _bruises and bites_ , he couldn't even look at his body without wanting to _vomit_.

She released him from the handcuffs and let him out of the bed, smiling brightly, pointing to a door in one corner. Klaus got up, looking around by his shirt, finding it in Handler's hand. He reached out to his shirt, but the woman shook her head, pointing to the door again. Klaus sighed, staggering to the door, resuming himself from throwing himself on the floor and screaming and sobbing until he could no longer. Dave would be disappointed.

Klaus turned the doorknob, entering without looking back, and froze when he saw where he was, but the door behind him was already closed. Now he knew where the third door was going.

He looked at the bed, finding it not empty, but occupied by a special person.

“Benny Boy!”


	9. Lose Control

_Toc. Toc. Toc._

Vanya opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling, lying on her bed. At first, she did not know why she had been woken up, but when the knocks on the door resumed, she sat, looking at the clock on the bedside table.

_06:03 A.M._

Who would hit Vanya's door so early? Normally, she'd risk Klaus asking for food or something, but her brother was missing, so it couldn't be him. As she dressed and the knocks on the door continued, Vanya began to wonder who it might be.

Maybe it was Diego. He said he'd search early so they could leave for the second day of searching for Five and Klaus, so as she walked down the aisle to the front door, now fully clothed, the raids resumed.

"I'm on my way! Wait a minute!" She reached the keys to the apartment and stuck them in the lock, not waiting for the person on the other side of her door.

"Hi, Vanya" Leonard smiled, waving his hand "Can I come in? "

"What? Uh, of course! Come in!" Vanya took a step aside and let Leonard through. He came in, looking around before asking if he could sit on the couch. Vanya nodded, heading toward the small kitchen. He came in, looking around before asking if he could sit on the couch. Vanya nodded, heading toward the small kitchen.

"Coffee?" Vanya asked Leonard, who nodded, smiling at her. She turned, putting the water to warm up and leaning against the counter "Sorry for the delay, I thought it was my brother, Diego, he said he'd come this morning to pick me up"

"No, no, it's okay, don't apologize" Said Leonard, shaking his hands, a gentle tone in his voice "I didn't say I was coming, I arrived without warning"

"Thank you for being so understanding, Leonard” Vanya said, picking up two cups and positioning the coffee strainer on top of each, putting coffee powder and adding water slowly, sitting at the table.

"Sure" Said Leonard, getting up and sitting in front of Vanya, accepting the cup of coffee she offered "You've been having a lot of time with your brothers lately, haven't you?" He asked. Vanya nodded.

"Oh, yes" Vanya agreed, taking a sip of his cup before saying "We're reconnecting. I'm sorry about Allison before, she was just being protective, I've never been in a relationship before, you know” She shrugged, embarrassed.

"Don't worry, Vanya. I don't have brothers or sisters, but I think if I did, I'd do the same thing she did." He took her hand and shook, Vanya smiled "So, did you manage to invite them to your concert on Monday?"

"Yes! They were radiant! Especially Allison, I didn't know they liked my music so much!" Vanya did not mention that Diego had told her later while they were looking for Five that he used to go to attend her rehearsals and concerts from the beginning, hiding between the chairs and ceiling beams so that no one would see him, which Vanya thought was cool, but did not know what Leonard would think, although she was sure he would be very happy to know that.

"That's awesome, Vanya! They will finally see how talented you are, and you will no longer be left out!" He exclaimed Leonard, waving excitedly with his hands.

"Yes" Vanya smiled behind the cup, taking another sip.

"Anyway, where did you say that you and your brother Diego were going?” Asked Leonard, he seemed genuinely curious and Vanya didn't think it would hurt him, she trusted Leonard.

"Oh, well" She sighed, landing the cup on the table, and Leonard, seemingly realizing that the mood had changed, did the same.

"What is it, Vanya?” He asked, taking her hands in his.

"My brothers Klaus and Five have disappeared, we need to find them. We split into two groups. Allison and Luther, and Diego and I" Explained.

"Oh, Vanya, I'm sorry" Said Leonard, worry and sorrow in his voice "Klaus was the one who talked to ghosts, wasn't he? The junkie?"

"Yes, but don't call him that, Diego told me he was sober the last time they saw each other, so don't call him a junkie, he's not one anymore" Vanya said, a little anger in her voice while defending her brother.

Leonard raised his hands in surrender "Sorry, I was just asking. Your book said he was a drug addict since he was fourteen, just assumed that a person who starts so early wouldn’t abandon addictions after living with them so long"

"Yes, yes, of course, you're right, I'm sorry" Vanya put her head in her hands "I got mad at you without knowing your reasons for saying this, you didn't know he was sober and I took my anger out on you" She sighed deeply "I've been so stressed and haven't ordered a refill of my medication yet, I guess that's why I'm like this, I'm sorry"

"Don't apologize" Said Leonard “Also, I'm sure it's not the lack of the medication, you've been fine since you stopped taking it. Your brothers are missing, of course you're stressed and angry."

"Thanks, Leonard" She smiled, then laughed lightly "I have been compulsively apologized since you got here, I broke our pact" They both laughed.

"Hey, wasn't Five the name of that brother of yours who disappeared when you were thirteen?" Leonard asked. Vanya nodded.

"Yes, but he came back a few days ago at my father's funeral, only to disappear again with another of my brothers" She sighed "This is becoming a pattern, who's next?" 

"Hey, it's going to be okay, you're going to find them" Said Leonard, giving an affectionate pat on her back “You want to go out for breakfast? I know a great bakery that is a few blocks from my store, we can eat and then I show you my new creations" Offered him. Vanya frowned.

"Uh, Leonard, I just said I have to find my brothers, Diego will be here to pick me up any minute" Vanya said, completely confused. She’d just told Leonard the importance of finding her brothers and now he was asking her out like nothing was wrong? “Sorry, I cannot accept, you’ll have to ask another time , I have more important things to do than go out to have breakfast with you" Vanya spoke, rising from the table, just like Leonard.

"Vanya, I'm sorry! I completely forgot that you would go out to look for them!" Explained Leonard, he seemed supplicant, but Vanya didn't mind, anger on a whole new level bubbling in her blood.

“What do you mean you forgot?! This fucking whole conversation was about them and you didn't even care?! THEY'RE MY FUCKING BROTHERS! OF COURSE, I'M GONNA LOOK FOR THEM! I can't go out with you! I don't want to go out with you! How could you?! THEY'RE MY BROTHERS! I LOVE ALL MY BROTHERS AND SISTER!" She screamed, her fists clenched next to her body.

The apartment was shaking, like an earthquake, and dust fell from the ceiling, objects shaking. Leonard seemed terrified, and somewhere in the back of his mind, Vanya enjoyed this face of fear because he had spoken ill of Klaus and was now practically saying that she should not look out her siblings.

Someone familiar was calling her name and Leonard was screaming, but Vanya didn't focus on it, the noise of her belongings hitting the ground echoing in her ears, and the sound of a bird singing outside, and then everything got out of control and her vision turned white.

* * *

When she opened her eyes, Vanya felt dizzy, it seemed that she had spent five nights without sleep and surviving only on coffee. She was exhausted. It took a few seconds for her vision to normalize, focusing on a very worried Diego.

"Vanya! Are you okay?!" He asked quickly and Vanya frowned, confused.

"What do you mean, Diego? Of course, I'm okay, I'm just tired, that's all” She answered, "Why are you asking that?"

Diego, instead of answering, pointed out the place around them, which Vanya finally realized was his apartment.

Her destroyed apartment.

All her books were scattered all over the floor in varying degrees of destruction. The shelf had fallen, and the sofa was turned, the filling scattered throughout the room. His small kitchen table was in pieces and the stove had exploded, apparently. There was fire extinguisher foam covering the remains of the stove and the small minibar she used in the fridge. The red cylinder was next to Diego.

The shutters had plummeted and were twisted on the floor at strange angles, her scores were scattered and torn, fortunately, she hadn’t left the violin in the living room, but in the bedroom, it would be a great loss if it had been destroyed. But at the center of it all, there was someone.

Leonard.

“Leonard!” Vanya ran and knelt next to him, his hands hovering and not knowing what to do.

"He's alive, I checked" Diego's voice came behind her, his hand landing on her shoulder.

"Diego, what just happened?" Vanya asked, her voice trembling with fear.

"It was you, Vanya" Diego hesitated, and then spoke as if he never expected to say it “You have powers."

* * *

"I called Allison, she and Luther are on their way" Diego said, sitting next to her on the floor. He leaned his shoulder against hers "Don't worry, we'll sort it out, you didn't hurt anyone"

"Leonard is unconscious in my living room" Said Vanya faintly, looking into her own hands.

"But he's not hurt" Diego said. He had a point.

"That's not possible, I have no powers" Vanya insisted. Diego sighed.

"Look, I saw what happened, I'm not kidding. You were yelling at him about Klaus and Five, then you skin turned pale and your white and blue eyes, and a white stream of energy came out of your chest and destroyed everything."

Vanya couldn't believe it, this couldn't be happening. She was Number Seven, the ordinary one, powerless and useless, she had nothing special. If she had powers all the time, she would’ve been part of umbrella academy, her father wouldn't miss that opportunity. But what happened said otherwise, even Diego wouldn't lie about such a thing, she was sure, but how could that be true?

“Diego! Vanya!” It was Allison and Luther. They rushed through the door of their apartment, immediately recording the destruction and Leonard unconscious.

Allison immediately ran up to her, hugging her and asking if she was hurt. Luther went to Diego, who had stood up.

"What happened, that man attacked you?" Luther was looking at Leonard.

"No, he didn't attack us" Said Diego, then shook his head "We need to have a serious conversation"

* * *

They all gathered in Vanya's room, the only room that wasn't destroyed. Allison was hugging her, and Vanya didn't know what to say.

"Right. Now tell us what happened, why is Vanya's apartment destroyed?" Luther directed his question to Diego, but Vanya answered.

"It was me" Everyone looked at her, Diego encouraging her “Leonard came to visit me, and we had a good talk for a while. I told him about Klaus and Five and about how Diego was coming to get me, but in the end he acted like his I hadn't said anything and like it wasn't important and I got angry because it's important!" Vanya was getting emotional again as some objects rattled. When she calmed down, she continued “I started yelling at him and defending Klaus and Five, then everything got so loud and then a white light came, and I fainted. When I woke up, Diego was here, my apartment was destroyed, and Leonard was unconscious in the middle of all the mess”

For the first time in her whole life, her brothers and sister were listening, and Vanya couldn't believe all this was real. But when he looked at Leonard still unconscious in one of the corners of his room, where Luther had left him to watch him, she realized it was really all real and took a deep breath, looking at his hands.

“Diego, tell us what happened in your point of view” Said Allison, holding Vanya's hand, which is comforting. ra

"I was going up the stairs to Vanya's apartment when I heard screaming" Started Diego "It was Vanya, and when I opened the door, she was yelling at that man, I don't know his name. With objects floating around her. Her skin was pale and her eyes white and blue. Then a stream of energy came out of her chest and destroyed everything." He explained. Allison and Luther sighed shocked, and Luther opened his mouth to say something, but Diego raised his hand to stop him “Before you say anything, Luther, I want you to know that I'm not making it up, I saw it with my own eyes, the evidence is in the living room, Vanya has powers and we never knew that."

"We need to go back to the Academy and talk to Pogo, I'm sure he can clarify what's going on and give us a plausible answer" Said Luther, and everyone reluctantly agreed.

"But what do we do with Leonard?" Vanya asked, looking at the man in question. Allison smiled.

"I have an idea"

* * *

After going to Leonard's house, using the key in his pocket to get in, they left him on the couch and went to the Academy. When they got there, Luther immediately went out to look for Pogo while Allison, Diego, and Vanya waited in the mansion's living room.

Diego walked back and side, throwing one of his knives up and down. It was such a common thing for him to do that Vanya felt a sense of normality, which was soon destroyed by nervousness.

Allison was sitting next to Vanya, drinking silently from a glass. She didn't seem nervous or scared, but frankly, Allison doesn't seem like a lot of things.

Finally, after what seemed hours, but it was only a few minutes, Luther entered the room, Pogo behind him. Number One sat on the empty couch in front of Allison and Vanya, while Diego stopped walking, but made no move to sit down.

Finally, Pogo positioned himself, both hands on the cane, the posture even more curved than normal.

"I fear, children, that your father, Grace and I have been covering up a terrible secret since you were little" Pogo began, and Vanya straightened up, her hands tight in her lap.

"Twenty-nine years ago, as you all know, you were born to mothers who showed no signs of pregnancy earlier in the day..."

Pogo talked about how they were born, about how Reginald found them and adopted them, enumerating them instead of giving them names. About how when they were four, they began training their powers and that the little Number Seven was not progressing in her training and her powers were becoming increasingly volatile.

So as a solution, Reginald decided that it would be dangerous for her and her siblings to continue with her powers, so Reginald decided to suppress them with pills made by him especially for her.

And to reinforce what he had already done, he had Allison put a rumor about her and her other brothers... about how Vanya was just... Ordinary.

* * *

Vanya was taking a deep breath, trying to control her emotions, she couldn't lose control and destroy the whole house, she needed to calm down.

"Vanya, please listen to me! I didn't remember that! We were young, and Dad said you were sick, he said the rumor would make you better faster! We were only four, Vanya! Calm down, please!" It was Allison, she was talking to her and Vanya was listening to her, but she couldn't calm down and the chandeliers were shaking and a light bulb broke.

She understood what Allison was saying. She and her siblings had been manipulated by Dad, Pogo said all his brothers had rumors placed on them to forget Vanya's powers and Allison was only four years old, she was not to blame, it was Dad's fault, he tricked Allison into putting the rumor about how Vanya was just ordinary, her sister was not to blame.

Reginald's painting on top of the fireplace where he had his favorite armchair exploded.

She had to calm down or she was going to put the whole house down!

Luther was screaming that they had to stop her and do something to stop Vanya, Diego was screaming that she was scared and that they would do nothing with her, and Allison was trying to calm her down.

"Vanya, take a deep breath, we're here" Allison said, "Breathe, one, two, three, hold for four, three, five, breathe by six, seven, hold for one, two..." Allison repeated this until Vanya finally managed to calm down and the house was still in one piece, with only a few broken bulbs and Reginald's charred frame.

"We need to talk about how we're going to help Vanya with her powers and find Klaus and Five" Said Diego and Vanya nodded, agreeing, but for now, she would sleep in Allison's hug.


	10. Ben

“Klaus...” Ben got up, his chest filling with joy and relief, Klaus could see him.

He had spent the last few days sitting Klaus' side in this tiny cell, invisible even to his brother. He’d tried to go out and find Five and memorize an escape route in case Five figured out how to help Klaus escape, but when he tried to cross the wall, he found himself preventing a barrier.

This was the first time Ben touched something and did not cross it, which left him shocked for a few seconds, but he managed to recover after a while, feeling frustrated and confused at not being able to cross the wall. The Commission surprised him more and more, Ben didn’t know what they had done with the walls and doors, but he was trapped in this room.

He’d watched Klaus fight the withdrawal alone for the first time since Ben died, and every time Klaus woke up panting from a nightmare, eyes full of tears, Ben wished he was there to calm him down, but all he could do was watch Klaus have panic attacks and flashbacks without being able to do anything to help him.

When Five finally appeared, Ben saw that his presence calmed Klaus, even if just a little. The meeting had been intense, and Ben wished to be visible for the thousandth time, never feeling so invisible.

At that moment, he thought he might have some hope, Klaus could see him after so long, maybe they could do something. But when he was about to tell his brother what he knew, his eyes fixed on his brother's downcast state, it looked like he’d been hit by a truck.

Of course, Klaus always seemed like a disaster, especially in the last few days, but now he had reached the limit.

Klaus was shirtless. That was the first thing Ben noticed, because he remembered that Klaus was taken with a shirt. He looked more dejected than ever and his limbs trembled every five seconds. But the worst part was the mess of bites and hickeys scattered all over his chest, the worst on his neck. Ben knew exactly who did it, but...

"Klaus, what happened?" He asked, approaching. Klaus shrugged, entering the bathroom.

"Oh, you know" He had a false smile on his face, which barely held "I was tortured again and a lady finds me very attractive" Klaus laughed, a broken and hysterical sound "But also, who would resist this beauty? My body is a temple, Diego doesn't know what he's talking about."

"Klaus, stop" Said Ben, at the bathroom door. Klaus gave an animated leap, an expression on his face that frightened Ben.

"Oh, don't you want to hear the sordid details, Benny? Ooh, because I have a lot of material to share with the class, I bet Five would love to participate too!"

“Klaus!” Ben shouted, but Klaus ignored him, finally looking at himself in the mirror, his eyes wide, the mask of indifference abandoned "Klaus, please tell me what's going on!"

“Dave” Klaus said. Ben stared at him, confused.

“What?”

"Dave's dog tags are gone!" Klaus shouted, turning to Ben "She's took them!"

"Who took them, Klaus? " Asked Ben, although he already suspected someone.

"The Handler!" Klaus looked like a killer as he turned around and went to the door he had entered and started to hit it "Hey, you sick bitch! Return my dog tags!"

He continued to punch the door, shouting to the other side, but there was no answer and Klaus collapsed on the floor, crying, his hands in the empty space where the dog tags were supposed to be.

“Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave” He repeated, swinging back and forth, leaning against the door.

"Klaus, breathe” Ben crouched in front of his sobbing brother “Come on, breathe like we practiced. One for Luther and his muscles. Two for Diego and his knives and hugs. Three for Allison and her soft words of comfort. Four for you and your wonderful fashion sense. Five for Five and his fierce protection and strange consolations. Six for me and my sense of humor. Seven for Vanya and her beautiful songs that drown out the ghosts"

After Ben repeated their numbers a few times, Klaus began to calm down, although his hands were still together in the space that the dog tags should be.

"Ben, I know I never said that, but thank you, I don't think I'd still be alive if it wasn't for you" Said Klaus, with a bare voice. Ben smiled softly, sitting next to Klaus, his shoulders almost ringing.

“I never thought I'd hear you say that.” Laughed Ben. Klaus smiled.

"Yeah, well, enjoy, I won't say it again"

"Thank you, Klaus, those years haven't been as bad as I thought they would be" Said Ben, laughing when Klaus raised his head, an expression of false offense on his face.

“Ben! How you dare!" Then, instinctively, without thinking about what he was doing, Klaus reached out to slap Ben in the arm, waiting for his hand to go through his brother as usual, but was surprised when his hand connected with his brother's arm and Ben shrank.

“Ugh!” Ben exclaimed, then the two stared at each other, eyes wide open.

“What— how—" Klaus began babbling, looking at his hand and extending it to Ben's arm again, but this time it crossed over, Ben waving in blue where his hand passed. Klaus looked at his brother “How did you do that? How did you get corporeal?? "

"Klaus, I– I think it was you, with your powers" The two looked at each other in shock.

* * *

"But how is that even possible?! Dad spent seventeen years trying to train my powers, how it just happened now?!" Klaus walked back and forth in the small cell, and if Ben were alive, he'd be dizzy by the amount of laps he saw Klaus take.

"I don't know" Said Ben, shrugging “Well, this is the first time you've been sober since you were thirteen, and you've never had many ghosts that you wanted to make corporeal, and I'm your brother. Besides, you were very emotional at the time, maybe your powers are controlled by your emotions."

Ben was trying to repress the anxiety and happiness he felt about it. It was the first time he had been touched by another human since he died and he longed for more, but he wouldn't pressure Klaus on it.

"Maybe, maybe" Grumbled Klaus, continuing to walk from side to side "But I don't understand, why didn't that show up when I was younger and totally sober?"

"Perhaps because you were too young, and your powers were still developing" Ben shrugged. Klaus lay on the bed, looking at the ceiling.

"I guess" He sighed, curling up in a ball, his hands groping the place where Dave's dog tags should be. Ben looked at his hands and sat next to him, the two falling into a silence.

* * *

Klaus and Ben were talking quietly about random things to distract themselves from the reality of the situation when the door Klaus now knew opened into the hallway buzzed and opened.

“Hargreeves” Lila said. Klaus was getting up from bed when she raised her hand "Sit down, let's have a talk"

Klaus cautiously sat on the bed, pulling his knees to his chest. Ben sat next to him, which Klaus thought was comforting. Two men showed up at the door holding a chair. When the chair was positioned next to the bed, they came out and closed the door.

Lila sat in the chair, looking at him with her arms folded.

"My mother did a number in you, huh" Klaus' blood cooled down and he contained a shudder.

Ben approached and their shoulders touched, which relaxed Klaus, although he was still freaking out about making Ben corporeal.

"My mother has always been of the predatory type, and although I've seen her do something like that, she's never been so deep, you must be special, although I don't know what she sees in you, you're not that attractive"

Klaus didn’t answer, and when he finally opened his mouth, he said "I want your mother to give me back my dog tags"

"Awn, they're important to you, aren't they? They have the name of your beloved soldier, David, don't they?" Provoked Lila, laughing. Klaus gnawed his teeth, squeezing his arms around his knees tightly. He wanted to yell at her so badly, but Ben gave him a look, warning him.

"Klaus, answering will only keep her going, be quiet"

"Aren't you very talkative today? I read in your file that you're an annoying beast, never shutting your mouth, but honestly, you look like a puppy who broke his neck” Lila pouted, laughing after.

"Why are you here?" Klaus asked, not biting the bait.

"Because I’m bored. And also because I'm curious" She looked at the marks that were not hidden by Klaus' knees and arms "However, you are inadequate" She stood up, opening the drawer embedded in the wall after pressing her hand on the panel, picking up a gray shirt identical to the one she had picked up days ago, throwing it at Klaus, who quickly dressed it, curling up again.

"Now that you're properly dressed, let's get started"

* * *

"You have a lot of potential, you know that? You could be powerful if you tried harder." Lila said.

"My father always said that, but I was never anything, but his greatest disappointment" Klaus replied, shrugging. Although it still hurt the fact that he was still considered a disappointment by his siblings, he stopped caring about his father's approval years ago when he was eight and Reginald had begun to lock him in the mausoleum and he’d decided he hated his father.

"Well, but it's true, you have more potential than you think" Lila leaned forward "You are very valuable to the Commission, perhaps as time, you understand, and we can be allies"

“Fuck. You” Said Klaus, narrowing his eyes to Lila, who smiled.

"Oh, that's not very kind" She said, then stood up "Listen to what I'm saying, Hargreeves, you and your powers are valuable, we couldn't risk losing you" Lila laughed “I'm excited to what we're going to achieve! Have a nice day, Hargreeves!"

A man came in and took the chair, and Lila left, the door closing and the lock locking with a click and a buzz.

"What a bitch!" Exclaimed Klaus after a while of silence, not caring if Lila or Handler herself could hear him.

"Although I don't like to encourage you to swear, I'm inclined to agree, Lila is a bitch" Said Ben, his face so serious that Klaus began to laugh.

“Ben! I was a terrible influence on you! All these years with me have polluted your mind! Where's that quiet, shy Ben we've loved and met? "

"He's gone, you're going to have to put up with me now" Said Ben, smiling at Klaus, who laughed even more.

"Oh, no! I corrupted Ben! What would our siblings think?!" Klaus shouted, putting his hands on his cheeks.

* * *

Hours later, after Klaus took the longest shower of his life, rubbing every dot of skin that The Handler had touched until he was red-skinned, he and Ben were talking when men opened the door, and with no word other than to have him turn around to secure him with handcuffs, they dragged him down the aisles to the other building where they entered the big room and they opened a door, which gave to an empty room. They took Klaus' handcuffs and threw him into the small room.

Klaus fell to the ground, scraping his hands, and turned to the men at the door.

"Ouch! Where's your education?! Didn't your moms teach you that it's rude to throw people on the ground like that?!" Klaus shouted, rising, and staring at the men, who turned around and closed the door, leaving him alone. Klaus wide his eyes and ran to the door, slamming it with his fists.

"Hey! Let me out! Let me out!" He looked around discreetly, nervously. There were only a few ghosts in the room, they were silent, but when they realized Klaus could see them, they would start screaming and Klaus didn't know if he could handle it.

He walked away from the door, taking a deep breath. 'Calm down, Klaus' he said to himself. Klaus looked around discreetly, looking for Ben, but his brother was not in sight.

_Klaus! Klaus!_

_Help us, Klaus!_

_I'm going to eat you alive!_

_Oh, my son! Where's my son! Mathew!_

_They killed my daughter and then me!_

_Klaus! Klaus!_

" _No, no, no, no, no, no, no_ " Klaus put his hands in his ears, taking faltering steps back as the ghosts in the room surrounded him.

"Hello, Four!" It was her, it was The Handler! The voice came from some voice device because she obviously wasn't in the room. Now that Klaus observed better, there was a one-way glass on one of the walls, and Klaus assumed she was watching him from there “Welcome! Today we want to try something different! We realized that your Number Six brother finally showed up, and that you apparently managed to make him corporeal. Oh, that's great! Well, that's why we want you to make the ghosts of this room corporeal and visible, we know you can!"

“No! They're going to eat me alive!" Klaus screamed at the glass, walking from side to side to ward stooge away from the icy hands trying to touch him.

"Well, I'm sure you'll stop them before it gets to that" Said Handler, and Klaus could imagine the smile on her face "Now do that, I have a meeting with Five later and you wouldn't want me to be late, would you?" Her tone was sweet, but Klaus knew what a threat was when he heard one, but he couldn't make these ghosts corporeal and visible, what would they do if they could touch him? The lights went off and Klaus freaked out.

He went to one of the corners of the room, pressing himself against the wall, not wanting the ghosts to surround him from behind.

_"Go away! Let me out! Please! Stop! I can't help you!"_

_His father locked him there again, he would open the door just to say 'Three more hours' and leave him in the dark with the ghosts, and the ghosts would kill him, Klaus would die and his father wouldn't care, he would die, he would die, die, die, die, die..._

_He was there for hours and a voice was telling him to use his powers, but Klaus couldn't do that because then the ghosts would tear him apart and he would die... blood, blood, blood... Dave, Dave, Dave..._

_“PLEASE LET ME OUT! I'LL BE GOOD! I'M NOT AFRAID ANYMORE!”_

_Klaus! Klaus!_

_Help us, Klaus!_

_I'm going to kill you!_

_KLAUS!_

_**KLAUS!** _


	11. Bad Memories

_Ashes, lots of ashes._

_Five coughed, squeezing the handle of the cart with his hand, he had to find something to protect his nose and mouth from the ashes or would soon die choking. Delores was perched on the wheelbarrow, wearing her new sequined shirt, and humming a song Five did not know as he walked through the rubble, looking for supplies_ _(_ _and maybe his siblings_ _)._

_He had met Delores a week earlier, and when they finally started talking, Five's throat was hoarse with disuse. In Five's first six months in the apocalypse, he had not uttered a word, fighting for survival at the end of the world, looking for food and looking for his siblings from one side to the other._

_Five knew there was a low chance that his siblings would be alive after all this time, but he could not lose hope, and even if they were dead, Five wanted to bury them properly. Because of that, he was walking around with Delores. Suddenly, Five stopped, spotting a bloody ball held by someone's hand._

_It was a glass eye, and when Five followed his arm to the owner, he found an unknown but somewhat familiar face._

_No, it couldn't be._

_No, no..._

_Five looked around, desperate_ _._ _This body had abnormal and impossible proportions for a human being to achieve, but..._

_He spotted another body. No… it couldn't be her!_

_There was another body nearby. It was Diego, only his brother had this specific type of knife, but Five could not believe it, the last time he saw his brother he had chubby cheeks of a thirteen-year-old-boy._

_It was Klaus._ _Five looked horrified at his brother's body, the umbrella tattoo standing out on his forearm._

_No, no, no, no, no, no, no..._

_They couldn't be dead! No!_

 _Diego, wake up!_ _Allison! Luther! Klaus!_

_No! No!_

_NO!_

* * *

Five opened his eyes, panting, jumping out of bed with a knife in hand and looking around ominously.

It was all in the same place.

Nothing had changed, it was just a nightmare.

Five shook his head, turning away thoughts about the corpses of his siblings. That wouldn't happen, Five was going to stop the apocalypse, but for that he had to save Klaus first.

He thought of Klaus when they met. It seemed that a light had gone out on his once brilliant and talkative brother. He was wearing the last clothes Five would think to see in his brother, but that wasn't the worst part, no. There was a purple bruise on his neck that Five bet was from a hickey that The Handler had given his brother. Only the sight of that hickey had made Five clench his fists, but he resigned to have a touch of anger in front of his brother because Klaus did not need it.

Klaus was alone and vulnerable and Five was the only one who could save him.

* * *

The man behind him was annoying, and Five would punch him if it didn't get him in trouble.

"Hello, Mr. Five! I'm Herb, remember? I'm at the table next to yours!" Five refrained himself from yelling at him and kept walking down the aisle “Mr. Five! Can I have a moment with you?"

Five turned to him with his fists clenched and his worst look on his face.

"In case you're not seeing, you asshole, I'm in a hurry and I don't have time to talk out with idiots like you, so stop bothering me and leave me alone!" Growled Five, about to jump on top of the man and break his neck. He didn't have time to deal with this idiot, he needed to come up with a plan to save Klaus!

"I'm sorry!" The man seemed truly sorry, and fear appeared in his eyes briefly before a determined expression appeared on his face and he looked around before grabbing Five by the arm and leading him into an empty room “I didn't want to bother you Five, but I really want to help you!"

Five stared at him and ripped arm out of his hand “And what would I need help with?" Asked Five, raising his chin, disappointed when he provoked no reaction and the man remained strong.

"We know about your brother, Five” Said him and Five inspired deeply, not stopping a second before pushing the men against the wall and putting a knife to his neck.

"You'd better give me a reason why I shouldn't rip your throat in the next five seconds” Whistled Five, narrowing his eyes at Herb.

"All right! All right!" He exclaimed Herb, raising his hands "Look, we know about your brother" Repeated him, and stood a look of panic on his face when Five increased the pressure on the knife on his neck "We have a resistance group and we want to help you rescue your brother!" Said Herb quickly and Five froze.

"What do you mean by that?" Asked Five in a rough tone and the man stuttered for a moment before continuing.

"Look, we don't like Handler. Actually, no one from the Commission likes her, but I'm part of a small group that's against her, but we never had a chance or reason to do anything, but now that you're here, it's perfect!" Herb explained, and Five took a step back, frowning, and Herb sighed "We don't like what she's doing to her brother, and we know you'll need help saving him, we're willing to help!"

"What do you mean? What else is she doing with Klaus?" Asked Five, different scenarios coming into his mind, none of which he wished were happening.

"I can't talk about it here, but if you go to one of our meetings next week, we can explain everything you want to know!" Said Herb, and Five nodded, a serious expression on his face.

"Fine, but you better be serious or I'm going to really rip your throat this time!" He threatened Five, and Herb nodded frantically, a smile on his face.

"I won't let you down, Mr. Five!"

* * *

Five walks down the hall, a tube in his hand, heading to the Tube Room. For anyone who looked, he seemed serious and calm, but Five was anything but. 

He had spent the last few days cataloguing everything he could about the Commission's head office, while doing the work in the office. He had breakfast every day with The Handler, who couldn't get tired a second of teasing him and talking about Klaus' cuteness. If Five hadn't known he was going to get his brother in trouble, he'd have crushed handler's perfect face by taking that smug smile out of her. But he couldn't do that and boiled in his chair, taking a sip of his coffee.

If it weren’t for coffee, Five wouldn't be alive. He spent the nights in clear writing variable equations in his room, in addition to the times when he woke up from a nightmare. Dark circles were beginning to appear.

Five entered the Tube Room, looking for Gloria, who was talking to a spiky-haired woman. As soon as she saw him, the woman smiled at him and gave him a bright smile. Five made a grimace at her and handed the tube to Gloria.

“1885, case 992351” He said, ignoring the spiky-haired woman in favor of giving instructions to Gloria, who smiled at him, quickly reading the message on paper and sending the tube to 1885, leaving soon after to sit at his desk.

Five stayed for a few moments until the _ping_ of the tube being delivered went off and headed out of the room.

"Wait, Five!" It was the woman, calling him. Five turned and raised an eyebrow at her, noting a badge on her chest that said:

_EXPERIMENT 4 PRICIPAL GUARD_

Five narrowed his eyes to the badge. He didn't like that. It didn't sound good.

“Yes?” He asked, stopping at a safe distance from the woman "And who would you be?" The woman laughed and shook her hands.

"I'm Lila, nice to meet you" She reached out and Five looked at her hand for a moment before staring her in the eye.

"Are you going to smile like an idiot and make me waste my time or do you have something to say?" Questioned Five, crossing his arms, wrapping his left fingers in the handle of the knife on his right sleeve.

"Oh, it's great to meet the little devil you are in person!" Exclaimed Lila and Five made a grimace.

"I'm fifty-eight years old, I'm almost three decades older than you" Answered Five “Now, if you have nothing to say but babble like a mental weak, I have more important things to do" Five gave her one last look before turning to the door, but before he could leave, one hand grabbed his wrist and turned him over. He found himself face to face with Lila.

"Hey, before you go, I have something that might interest you" Lila took a step back and took something out of her pocket. When Five saw what it was, he straightened up.

They were the dog tags he had seen Klaus wearing since he returned from any ten-month time travel, he had made. It seemed special to him and Five saw his brother hold up the dog tags several times with a lost expression and tearing looks. This asshole had no right to take something so valuable from her brother.

"Give it back" He growled, not daring to reach out and rip the dog tags out of her hands.

"I don't think so" Said Lila, smiling and passing her fingers by the current "Your brother Klaus seems very attached to this, and I don't intend to return it anytime soon, maybe I use it as blackmail, who knows?"

Five took a deep breath and counted to seven. He couldn't kill this woman, no wonder he wanted to. This would cause trouble for him and Klaus would be punished for his sake, and he wouldn't let Klaus get hurt for him any more than he already was.

"Who are you, anyway?" He asked, recomposing himself and looking at her. Lila shrugged.

"No one very important" She said, false indifference in the face, then laughed "Unless you tell me the fact that The Handler is my mother, of course"

Five held on to the max not to show shock and disbelief in the face “Oh, really?" He asked, with the right amount of indifference, contempt, and slight curiosity in tone.

“Yes” She smiled, holding the dog tags in her pocket "I've seen a lot of your brother Klaus lately, he looks so broken" She sighed dramatically, something in her eyes that Five could not identify, but which quickly disappeared.

"Yeah, well, stay away from him” Threatened Five, a growl in his voice. Lila laughed.

"Ha! And what are you going to do, present me with a seven-page document written with crayons?” She then frowned "Urgh, no, that wasn't good"

“In fact” Said Five, putting his hands behind his back petulantly and putting a smile that would make most people scare themselves in the face "I've seen much better than this, which was simply deplorable" Five analyzed the nails, continuing to smile “Anyway, if you have something else to say, spit, if not, as I said, I have other places to be"

Lila made an unpleasant grimace at him" I just wanted to say that your brother Klaus is very interesting" Five abandoned her activity of analyzing his nails to look deadly at her “He has extraordinary powers, he’s very valuable to us, very much" Then she smiled "Well, anyway, have a nice day! See you around!"

She turned and left, and Five stood still, his mind running at full speed.

* * *

_Toc. Toc. Toc._

Five knocked on the door, his jaw strained and his left foot shaking in impatience.

"Come in, Five!" Handler's voice came. Five opened the door and saw her sitting at the table, serving a dark liquid that could be tea or coffee in a cup "Come in, come in!"

Five closed the door and walked up to her, examining the surroundings. Nothing different. There was no one in the room with them.

“I'm glad you decided to attend this meeting." She said, a smile that revealed second thoughts on her lips. Five gnawed his teeth.

"It's not like I have much choice, is it?" He whistled at him, sitting in the chair in front of her.

“No, you don't” She agreed, fun in her eyes while taking a sip of her cup “Would you like some coffee? I personally prefer a good tea, but as you said you prefer coffee, I had it provided for you" She pointed to a different teapot than she was using before.

“No, thank you.” Said Five, although he really wanted a coffee now, he just didn't want to share a drink with The Handler of all people.

“Oh, well, what a pity” She shrugged, landing her cup on the teapot “Well, now that we've covered that part, let's get down to it”

“That would be... ?" Five raised his eyebrows, his hands at fists in his pants pockets.

"Your brother, of course, also the fact that I am satisfied with your behavior lately, you have been a good boy” Cooed The Handler. It looked like she was about to reach out and shake Five's cheek. He twisted his face.

"Your brother has also been a good boy” She said, then shrugged “Well, more or less. He didn't answer our questions the way we wanted, and I was forced to punish him.” She sighed as if she were sad and sorry. Five mocked internally "These things happen, unfortunately. I hope it doesn't happen again."

"What questions?" Five resisted the urge to jump on the table and pull out the answers he wanted from the woman.

"Oh, that's been a few days, we tried something different, would you like to see?" She asked, and Five frowned.

"What do you mean?" He asked. The Handler smiled.

"You'll see, come on"

* * *

Five accompanied The Handler through the run res until they drove to another building down a glass walkway where he could see other people walking downstairs. They finally reached a door in a hallway, which opened to what looked like a control room with some scattered office chairs. Lila was sitting in one of them and waved to Five as he walked in behind The Handler, smiling brightly.

There was a glass that Five assumed was one-way that gave way to a small empty room at first glance, but Five soon located why he was brought there.

Klaus was cowering against one of the corners of the room, his hands in his ears, his eyes closed tightly and his mouth moving frantically, but without producing sound.

“Oh, yeah” The Handler was smiling as she sat in what appeared to be the most comfortable chair in the room “He's been there for some time now, with no results for now, unfortunately”

“Are y–” Five took a deep breath, not wanting The Handler to see how shaken he was, but if her rising smile was a statement, she had noticed “Are you experimenting with him?"

* A _flash_ went through his eyes as he thought of his own experiments that was submitted while still working for the Commission. Flashes of needles being forced into his veins, the ghost feeling of leather straps tightening his wrists and ankles, the cold of a metal table on his back, the cloud of drugs in his mind as they moved with his body, changing his DNA, corrupting his mind...

Five closed his hands-on fists and looked at his brother. He barely survived it with sanity, he couldn't bear the fact that Klaus was going through something like what he went through and Five couldn't do anything to stop it. Despair took over Five, at the same time as anger, hatred, and a feeling that he was being uselessly stood still and that he should protect his younger brother. More than ever, Five wished he could kill The Handler right now.

Five was drawn from his dark thoughts by the voice of The Handler, who looked radiant, her hands crossed close to her chest, a shark smile on her face.

"Of course, we're experimenting on Four!" He exclaimed The Handler, as if it were obvious. And for her it was, of course “It is as rare a specimen as you once were, and he has even more potential to be explored!"

These words seemed like something his father had already said to Klaus, but Five couldn’t remember, it had been forty-five years since he last saw the old man on that fateful day he had fled the Academy, the day he had abandoned his siblings at the mercy of his father's tyranny.

"What do you mean by potential to be exploited?" Asked Five, his eyes fixed on the tearful figure of his brother who was curled up in a ball and jumped from second to second, shrinking to the invisible, in Five's view.

"Oh, well" The Handler smiled, then pointed her to the chair in front of her "Sit down, I can't let a guest standing up in a conversation like this!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * For those who didn't read the comics, when Five went to work with the Commission, they did a lot of experiments with him, including changing his DNA and adding the DNA of the biggest and best killers that ever existed to make him the perfect killer for the Commission.


	12. Powers

It was too loud, and Klaus couldn't take it anymore. His ears were ringing, and the ghosts kept screaming bloody murder.

He was trapped in that cell for a long time. The walls pressing his back, his hands so stuck in his ears that it hurt, even if it was no use, because it never helped, the dead would always be heard, they would not be stopped by a mediocre sound barrier like Klaus' hands.

_Klaus! Klaus!_

 _Why are you just sitting there?_ _Help me!_

 _Klaus!_ _Do something!_

_My son! My son!_

_She killed me!_ _She killed me!_ _And you're just sitting there, you bastard! Do something!_

When Klaus was still a child, years before his first mission with his siblings and the bloody ghosts began to emerge, he used to try to fulfill the requests of ghosts, those who were not as violent as those of the mausoleum. The ghosts scattered around the house groaned and occasionally screamed, and it was annoying and frightened him, but it wasn't so bad, and he tried to make their requests to see if they would leave him alone.

He left the house in hiding at night, using the fire escape, and sneaking through the alleys, following the instructions of the ghosts. He had spent nights searching for lost objects and leaving them on the doors, nights walking exhausted to the old ghost house, nights plotting plans, and much, much more. But it had never worked, the ghosts didn't shut up, and the only time it worked was with an eighty-year-old lady who just wanted to see her old estate, she soon left with a light, but it had never happened again, the other ghosts never left.

Eventually, Klaus stopped trying, and when his father pushed him from the top of the stairs as punishment for wearing Mom's shoes ("They are girl shoes, Number Four! You are a boy! Stop with this now!”) he experienced silence for the first time and cried with happiness so much so that Vanya, who was sitting in a chair beside his bed when he woke up, asked him why he was crying, and Klaus replied, a huge smile on his face and tears dripping down his cheeks:

"It's quiet"

* * *

How long has he been there? Would they let him out? Because he had to leave, or these ghosts would drive him crazy. They... they...

Klaus swung back and forth, sobbing hysterically.

"Please, please, please, please! Please let me out!" Klaus lay on the ground, curling up in a ball. He had to get out, he had to get out, out, out, out...

He couldn't take it anymore, please, please, he needed to leave! He'd be trapped forever, he'd die there, he'd become a ghost and he'd never stop being tormented by screaming, he'd die, die, die.

It was so dark. Klaus was in the mausoleum? He had to be, there was no other place, no, no.

_KLAUS! KLAUS!_

_I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!_

_GET UP!_

_KLAUSKLAUSKLAUSKLAUSKLAUSKLAUSKLAUSKLAUSKLAUSKLAUSKLAUS_

Klaus screamed. A shrill and terrifying sound that he barely heard above the cries of ghosts.

"LET ME OUT! DON'T GET CLOSER! DAD! DAD! LET ME OUT! PLEASE! DAD! I’LL BE GOOD! PROMISE! DAD! PLEASE!" Screams.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no..." Whispers.

“DON’T GET CLOSER! STOP! GO AWAY! NO! NO!” Screams.

"Please, please, please, let me out, please..." Whispers.

One hand grabbed his ankle.

“WHAT _ARE_ YOU DOING?! STOP! LET ME GO!"

Klaus looked wildly around. They were shining in blue, and Klaus wide his eyes, memories of later events passing through his mind.

“No, no, no, don't even think about it.... NO!” Klaus screamed and struggled as all the ghosts came at the same time at him, screaming more than ever, grabbing his arms legs hair, clothes...

“STOP! STOP! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!" He was crying again and sobbing and shouting so much that his throat began to hurt “LET ME GO!"

They dragged him into the middle of the room.

The ghosts were kicking, biting, and groping everywhere possible in Klaus.

Klaus shouted madly, something pulsed on his chest and all the ghosts were thrown away from them. Klaus fell to the ground, not realizing he was above ground, and fainted.

* * *

**On an undisclosed date in 1998**

Klaus was with Five and Vanya. They were in the girl's room while she played the violin, Five writing her nerdy math in a notebook and Klaus staring at the ceiling. A light knock on the door went off and when it opened, Diego and Ben came in.

"Hi, guys!" Klaus stood up and smiled at his brothers, but none of them reacted, and for the first time he realized that their eyes were red and Ben cried silently, the stuffed unicorn he had given Klaus tight in his arms.

"C–c–can w–we s–s–s–stay w–with y–you?" Diego's stutter was worse than usual, and Klaus frowned, worried.

"Dee, is everything all right?" Asked Klaus, approaching his brother. Diego did not react and he and Ben sat on the bed next to Five.

Klaus looked at Vanya. She was crying like Ben while playing a song that seemed to be very sad, but again, almost all her songs seemed sad. Five continued writing in his notebook, before suddenly growling with anger and kneading the paper into a ball, throwing it to the ground.

“Five–” Ben started. Vanya had stop playing and looked at them with watery eyes.

“Not now, Ben!" He vociferous five, returning to write furiously in his notebook.

“Five, is everything okay?" Vanya asked, sniffing. Five looked at her, and for the first time Klaus saw Five's anger directed at Vanya.

“Of course, I'm not okay, Vanya! He's dead! Our brother is dead! KLAUS IS DEAD!" Shouted Five, jumping on his feet. Vanya shrank.

"Uh, wait, guys, what are you guys talking about? I'm not dead, I'm right here” Said Klaus, confused, and reached out to pick up Five's wrist, the nearest, just to–

His–

Hand–

Cross.

Klaus took a step back, horror in his face as Diego stood up and he Five began to fight.

"Guys! I’m here! Please! Guys! I'm here!" Klaus screamed, sobbing.

No, no... why weren't they seeing him… ?

_“Number Four!”_

Ben, Five, Diego, Vanya... they weren't seeing him. They– they–

_“Number Four! Get up!"_

“BEN! I’M HERE! FIVE! VANYA! DIEGO! PLEASE! I’M HERE! GU–”

_“Number Four, get up immediately!"_

Klaus opened his eyes and fell from the bed to the floor, moaning and sobbing.

"Get up, Number Four!” Klaus looked up and stared into his father's eyes. Immediately, Klaus got up and straightened out. Reginald looked at him with disdain “It is time for your special training, Number Four”

Klaus’s got wide eyes.

“No, Dad, please don't put me there, please, please, I'll be good, please don't..." Reginald raised his eyebrows for Klaus before taking the boy by the arm and beginning to drag him down the hall. Klaus saw that Pogo was following them, but he paid no attention, pleading for his father.

"No, no, please don't lock me there, I'll practice my powers, I promise, just please don't lock me there!" Begged Klaus, trying to dislodge his Dad's arm from his grip, to no avail.

“We both know that is not true, Number Four” Said Reginald as they climbed the stairs to the terrace “You are too scared to try, you need your training at the Mausoleum to make you stronger" He said and Klaus shook his head, wide-eyed when he spotted the Mausoleum.

“No! No, Dad, please don't!" Reginald didn't listen and opened the door, throwing Klaus in.

“I will be back in three hours to check your progress, Number Four" Then the door closed.

That night, Klaus screamed, knocked on the door and tried everything to silence the ghosts, who screamed louder than ever and Klaus yelled at them, shouted for his father to get him out, shouted for his siblings to save him, screamed, screamed, shouted and shouted.

No one ever came, and when the ghosts turned blue and began to tear him apart, Klaus closed his eyes and accepted, shouting one last time before everything went dark.

* * *

**Back to the present time at the Commission**

When he woke up, Klaus was lying on a cold, hard surface. He blinked slowly, for some reason feeling exhausted.

He was in a gray room ( _‘_ _Is there only gray in this place?'_ ) like all the others in the Commission, but there were strange machines and even stranger panels.

Klaus tried to sit down to have a better viewing angle, but his arms were restrained by something. Leather straps. Leather straps held him a metal table.

“Wohoooo!” Klaus tried to contain fear and panic and put his mask of indifferent fun in place “I'm feeling BDSM vibes here! And no offense, but I'm not in the right mood now, so if you guys could let me go, that would be great!"

Silence. Klaus sighed and pulled his wrist, trying to see if he could loosen the strap, but it was too tight. When you tried his feet, they didn't move either. There was another leather strap going over his chest, and Klaus felt something strange around his head, like a metal bow, but he couldn't figure out what it was exactly.

Without getting anywhere, Klaus stared at the ceiling, counting time in seconds.

_Three thousand five hundred and ninety-eight._

_Three thousand five hundred and ninety-nine._

_Three thousand six hundred._

_Three thousand six hundred and–_

The noise of an automatic opening door was recorded by his ears and Klaus stopped counting.

“Hello, Four” When he heard The Handler's voice, Klaus remembered what happened and his eyes were wide with fear. He had made the ghosts corporeal (And possibly visible) and somehow, he had thrown them back with an invisible force. What would The Handler do with it?

"I'm glad you're awake" Commented the woman, a casual tone in his voice.

"Why am I tied to a table?" He couldn't make a joke to her, the memories of what she did to him consuming his brain and preventing him from making any of the jokes he usually made in situations like this.

"Ah, it's just a precaution, of course” Said The Handler, shrugging "You destroyed one of the experiment rooms yesterday, who knows what else you can do with your awakened powers? "

"What's around my head?" He asked, without looking directly at her. The Handler laughed.

"Don't worry about it" She said, patting his cheek, then walked away to a panel. Klaus followed her with his eyes, watching as she typed something on a weird keyboard and pressed several buttons, and tried to hold back from having a panic attack.

Suddenly she was by her side again, with wires in her hands, and at the tip were... Electrodes? Was that the name?

"Let's try something new due to recent developments” She said, and held out her hands with the mention of sticking the electrodes to Klaus' forehead, but he turned his head “Stand still, it will be worse if I do not position the electrodes in the right place"

Klaus did not move and felt a hand grab his chin hard and turn his head. The Handler's face was very close to his and Klaus finally realized he was in a position where she could do anything, and he couldn't even move.

Her nails dug into his cheeks and their noses touched.

“I really like you, Four” Whispered her “More than any of the others I've had for myself, and I don't want to hurt you any more than necessary, but if you don't obey me, I'll be forced to do something you don't want to do" She smiled broadly and Klaus' lip trembled, he understood the unspoken of the threat.

“I’m Sorry” Whispered Klaus, dropping a hiccup. He felt miserable and helpless.

“What was that? I didn't hear” She asked, a false tone of innocence in her voice. Klaus restraining himself from grinding his teeth and spitting in her eyes and said:

"I'm sorry, _Mistress_ " The Handler smiled brightly.

"Great! Now let's get started!” She put two electrodes to his temples, three to his forehead and two to his cheeks, then she stepped back to the panel again and started setting something up. Klaus shook his head, trying to dislodge the electrodes and whatever was around his head, to no avail.

Suddenly, a wave of pain went through Klaus and everything disappeared.


	13. What Happened?

**August 16 th, 1995**

The ghosts of the house were scary. That's what Four thought, at least. They didn't scream, (well, not all, some screamed, those who had violent deaths) but they said things that scared Four, he wanted them to leave.

Four wanted to have the powers of any of his brothers, they were much nicer than his.

He would like to have the powers of Two, he could throw things at One and never miss!

Five's powers were cool too, he could go wherever he wanted in the blink of an eye, even though he was still practicing and had already appeared in the bathroom while Four showered in the bathtub. It was funny, Five covered his face and started yelling at Four to put on clothes, and Four just laughed, saying it was he who went into the bathroom.

Four would also like to have the power of Three, he could get whatever he wanted! But he didn't think he'd use it on people, he didn't like it when Three forced him to do things, so it wasn't very cool, but it had advantages!

One had the simplest power, in Four's opinion. It seemed cool, of course, One had super strength, but it wasn't mystical and fun like the powers of his other brothers.

Of all his brothers, what had the coolest power was Six. He had little tentacle friends who came out of his belly and played with them. Six loved playing with blocks with the tentacles, _they_ were very fun and friendly! Four liked _them_ a lot too, and _they_ liked to tickle four, it was weird, but very funny.

Four would like to have any of his brothers' powers, he hated his. The ghosts groaned and said things, they wouldn't let Four sleep and when he finally fell asleep, he had nightmares about the things the ghosts said.

Four thinks he may have been cursed at birth, because how did he have these horrible powers when his brothers had fun powers? There had to be something wrong with him, because if nothing were wrong, he'd have fun powers too!

* * *

The screamers were here. They were here and they were screaming and screaming and Four wanted them to be quiet!

He had a curse, his powers were a curse.

_Four! Four!_

_Help me!_

_Four!_ _Save my son!_

 _He killed me, Four!_ _He killed me!_

_When I get my hands on you, you'll see what real pain is!_

_Four! FourFourFourFourFourFourFourFourFourFourFour_

Four opened his eyes, panting. His eyes watered and he turned to stick his head on the pillow and cry until he slept again but found the air.

He wide his eyes, finally realizing his situation. He was levitating two meters above the bed.

Four screamed.

* * *

> _August 16 th, 1995_
> 
> _Number Four woke up floating on the ceiling of his room this morning. I ordered Number One and Number Three knock him out because Four wouldn't come down. That's a development, Four is showing to have more powers than all his brothers. Next week we'll start working on his levitation, this can be useful in future missions._

* * *

**October 5 th, 1995**

"Focus, Number Four!" Ordered Dad. Four gave a grunt of exasperation.

"I can't!" Said Four, looking at the floor with a pout.

"If you can't, how did I see you levitate to Number Two and Number Six this morning?" Asked Dad, one of the eyebrows raised, the red notebook with the number _'4'_ engraved on the spine in one hand, a fountain pen in the other.

"I don't know!" Yelled Four, looking at his dad his fists clenched beside the body.

“Well! Think about how you felt! Do it!" Ordered Dad, writing something in his notebook. Four boiled with anger.

"I DON'T KNOW HOW I DID IT!"

CRASH!

Four looked wide-eyed at the glass of water in pieces on the floor. The glass had somehow flown from where it stood at a table next to Dad and hit the wall by itself. Four shrank, looking at Dad. He would definitely think of a way to blame Four for what happened and he would be punished.

Contrary to what he thought, Dad seemed as interested as he was when he found out Four had levitation.

“Interesting” Dad said, Then he wrote something down in his notebook. Four has wide his eyes.

* * *

> _January 21 st, 1996_
> 
> _Number Four does not show many advances in his control over ghosts, his telekinesis and levitation are distracting him from his other powers. This can be a problem if not contained._

* * *

**February 1 st, 1996**

**Free period.**

“Six?” Called Four at his brother's bedroom door.

“Um?" Six didn’t raise his eyes from the book and Four approached, sitting on the bed in front of his brother, who was leaning at the head of the bed as he read.

"I want to show you something" Four replied, taking off his shoes and sitting on the bed cross-legged in front of his brother.

"Not now, Four, I'm reading, show Two" Said Six, turning a page of the book without looking at Four.

"Two is in special training, you know that, so we have some free time"

"Seven then"

"She's in her health care class in the infirmary with Mom"

“Five?”

"Writing on the walls again, dangerous to interrupt"

Six agreed with the head, marking the page, and closing the book, placing it on the shelf.

"What do you want to show me?" Asked Six, putting his elbows on his knees and resting his head on his hands. Four jumped on the bed up and down, excited.

"I can levitate to the ceiling and use my telekinesis to erect multiple objects at the same time!" Said Four with a broad smile, ignoring the bad memories of how he learned to do it in training. It was normal, after all, it was training, there was no point in him feeling uncomfortable about it, was there?

"Really? That's so cool!" Exclaimed Six, joining the animation of Four.

"Yeah, look!" Four looked around the room, selecting a variety of objects in Six's room.

He levitated toward the ceiling, crossed legs, while making notebooks, books, and pens float around him. Four looked at Six with anticipation. His brother looked in amazement, but his hands were around his stomach. Four frowned and his concentration broke. He fell back into bed, objects falling to the ground. Dad said that one day he would levitate and use his telekinesis without having to concentrate all the time, but he still couldn't do that.

"Is everything okay, Six?" Asked Four, worried. Six was no longer smiling, looking at his stomach.

" _They_ haven't played with me since last week's special training session I had with _them_ " Explained Six, shorty. Four had not realized this but knew that his father was waiting for Six to reach a certain age before starting training, when in the others he started as soon as he discovered their powers. He knew six's first training had begun in October of the previous year, weeks after their birthday. How did he not realize that his tentacle friends were no longer playing with his brother anymore? Was Four too excited about his powers to notice that Six no longer came to his room to play with his tentacle friends?

"What happened?" Asked Four, and reached out to Six, but his brother moved away.

"Dad made _them_ k–kill a rabbit last week. _They_ didn't like it. _We_ used to be doing strength exercises and stuff. _They_ weren't enjoying it very much but _were_ interested in the idea of getting stronger to lift heavier toys. But Dad forced _them_ to k–kill another animal. _They_ 're different now, _they_ 're angry. _They_ hate Dad"

“Don't worry, Sixey! _They_ 're gonna show up, _they_ love me!" Four unconsciously floated a few inches up and Six laughed, Four soon accompanying him.

* * *

> _November 24 th, 1996_
> 
> _Number Four is still afraid of ghosts and claims that they yell at him and say scary things. I'm afraid I will execute plan 3 eventually if nothing changes. I'll try a few last times with Number Four in his especial training, but it won't be possible to continue that way with Number Four afraid of his powers and distracted by telekinesis and levitation._

* * *

**May 7 th,** **19977**

Four shrank in his chair, in the dark of the room other than by two small candles in front of him. Suddenly, the noise of the lock echoed, and the door opened, bringing some light, and shadowing the figure of his father, who came in and closed the door, walking to sit in front of Four.

The boy was in his special training, the others in his free time while Four was trapped in this room with his father and the screaming ghosts.

"Number Four, how many ghosts are in this room?" Dad asked. Four obediently looked around, not wanting to be punished, and began to count the ghosts.

Four preferred his levitation and telekinesis training. Even if he didn't like training his other powers, being locked in this dark room with candles, incense and screaming ghosts was scary.

"There are eleven ghosts, sir" His father, as always, had his red notebook in his hand, quickly taking notes with his fountain pen.

"Describe the nearest one" Ordered his father, continuing to write in his notebook. Four swallowed in dry and looked at the nearest, which gave a particularly loud cry toward his father.

"He's wearing the remains of a suit, he has white hair and he's got broken, cracked sunglasses in his eyes, I can't tell you the cause of death, but he's covered in blood" Reported Four, quickly swerved away at the ghost's increasingly loud screams, now that he had realized that Four could see him.

"Huh, interesting" Said his father, looking briefly in the direction that Four was looking before and returning to write "Make him visible"

For the next two hours, Four tried unsuccessfully to make the ghost visible, getting a slap from his father on the cheek when he whimpered that he couldn’t. At the end of special training, Four ended up on the ground curled up in a ball and covering his ears while all the ghosts of the room plus several others who were attracted by his attempts gathered around him, screaming and screaming.

He barely heard his father sighing and mocking in disappointment.

* * *

> _June 10 th, 1997_
> 
> _I'll unfortunately execute plan 3 in the coming months. It is a pity, Number Four could be the most powerful of his brothers and brothers, right behind Number Seven. Wasted resources._

* * *

**September 28 th, 1997**

Four tried to hold the smile, but when Dad turned to talk like Pogo, he left it appeared on his face. He didn’t realize that he was levitating with happiness a few inches from the floor until Five pulled him down by the sleeve of the exercise suit.

"Four, stop, Dad will see, you can save that happiness for later" He whispered Five hastily, his hand tightly on Four's wrist.

“But I'm soooo excited, Five, we're going to get names on our anniversary! It's so close!" Four whispered back, and Five opened his mouth, about to respond with what would surely be an unpleasant comment when Dad turned and stood in front of the six children in line, who immediately straightened in reflection.

"May I ask, Number Four, what is so important that you feel the need to speak at the beginning of a group training session?" He asked Dad, and Four shrank almost imperceptibly, being noticed by Five, who was very close. Allison didn't seem to notice.

Four didn't want to be punished two days before his birthday. What if Dad decided he wouldn't get a name after that? He wanted a name! He didn't want to be Four!

“Sir, I'm the one who caught Four's attention, sir, it's not his fault.” Said Five, and Four struggled not to react and get serious in front of his father, but internally he was shocked.

It wasn’t new that Five was protective of his brothers, and always tried his best to distract father when someone something wrong, especially Four. When Four asked him why he did it, Five replied “You may be an idiot sometimes, but I know Dad takes it hard for you and... I just want to protect you, Four, you're my brother, besides...” at that moment his voice subsided to a whisper "I never said that before, but... I'll always protect you, we're family”. Four had been very moved when Five said this, and had tried to give his brother a hug, who walked away and said "If you mention it to anyone, you're dead, Four" then disappeared in blue light.

In spite of all the ‘I want to protect you’, Four wasn't sure if Five was serious, who would like to protect Four? All his siblings thought he was annoying, even Six had said that, though much less than the others.

So, Four was surprised when Five protected him again.

“Extra training session tomorrow at 5:00 P.M, Number Five, and no dinner for you today” Dad said, and Five nodded. Dad seemed pleased and then said "Number Four, Number Three, come to my office after training” Said Dad, and Four wide-eyed, looking panicked at Five, who seemed surprised and confused, and for Six, who wide eyes panicked for Four "Now move! Level 3 training session!"

* * *

Later, after training, Four and Three headed to their father's office. Two had patted Four on the shoulder and said “It's go–gonna be okay, F–Four. I–If D–Dad d–does a–a–anything, I–I'll k–kill him!" Four thought it was cool, but he wasn't sure Two could do that. Five had also said that everything was going to be fine. He didn't hug Four or give him a reassuring pat on the shoulder like Two, but that was Five, he didn't initiate displays of affection.

Anyway, this had done little to reassure Four and while he and Three headed to her father's office, Four couldn't contain the nervousness, Three seemed sad and guilty, she sure knew something Four didn't know.

Three knocked on the office door and the two came in after Dad called them.

His father was sitting in his huge chair, Pogo by his side with a sad expression, for some reason.

“Number Three, Number Four” Dad said, getting up from the chair and approaching the two children, stopping in front of the two. He looked at someone behind them “Grace, come”

Four turned around, spotting Mom, who entered the room and stopped near Four, smiling strangely at him. In front of him, Three seemed nervous and the guilt on her face intensified, but Four didn’t understand why.

“Grace” Dad's voice was serious, and Mom's smile seemed more forced. Pogo, now next to Three, with his hand on the girl's shoulder, looked sadly at Four.

Two hands took Four's arms and held them hard. Four looked back, confused. Mom looked at him with her ever-present smile, but that seemed more tense.

“Mom, what's going on?" Asked Four, nervous, looking at his father, who was stood next to Three and Pogo.

“Don't worry, hun’, it's going to be okay” Assured Mom, but it did not calm her nervousness and Four swallowed it dry. In front of him, Dad said:

“Number Three, do it” Three didn't move, looking about to protest, but Dad gave a look at her, which made her take a step forward, her head down.

“Three, what's going on? Why are you sad?" Asked Four, despair and confusion beginning to arise.

Three raised her head, looking at Four. A tear flowed down her left cheek, and she still perished sad and guilty, but there was a determination in her eyes that wasn't there before.

“Don't worry, Four, it'll make you feel better, I promise, you'll progress with your powers and you won't get distracted, you will no longer be afraid of ghosts when you progress, it'll be all right” Three seemed to be saying this more to herself than to Four, who wide-eyed, finally realizing why Mom was holding him and why Three was there too.

“No, no, no Three, please don't do this!" Begged Four, struggling in Grace's grip, but she was much stronger than him, being a robot, and her grip increased. In desperation, Four began to fight as much as he could “Three, please don't! I–I promise I'll never bother you again if you don’t do it!"

“I'm sorry, Four, but Dad said this is going to help you, I just want to help, I swear. And if making you forget your telekinesis and levitation is the only way to for me to help you, I'm going to do it” Three explained, but Four shook his head, tears running down his cheeks.

“No, Three, please! You don't get it! Telekinesis and levitation are all I have! Without them, I have only the ghosts! Three, don't do this, please don't!” Said Four, continuing to try to escape Grace's grip, to no avail.

“Number Four! Shut up! Number Three, do it!" Screamed Reginald and Four continuing crying, muttering, and shouting 'no' and 'please' to Three, who was also crying, but trying to assure him that everything would be fine “Number Three!”

Three looked at Reginald before turning around and looking into Four's eyes, who still struggled and begged her not to do so. Three was still crying, and gave a sad smile to Four, stroking his hair, before opening her mouth and say:

"I heard a rumor that you forgot you have telekinesis and levitation"

* * *

> _September 28th, 1997_
> 
> _Today I called Number Three and Number Four in my office and executed plan 3. I had Number Three rumor Number Four with the following words:_
> 
> _"I heard a rumor that you forgot you have telekinesis and levitation"_
> 
> _It was the only thing I could think of doing. Number Three believes the rumor is temporary to help Four not be afraid of his powers with the ghosts and move forward with them without distractions. I'm not going to refute her._
> 
> _Fortunately, with his telekinesis and levitation out of the way, Number Four will focus on his other powers._

* * *

In the present time, Klaus screamed and cried with the memories passing through his mind, The Handler laughing beside him.


	14. Five

Five narrowed his eyes to the woman, who had a bright smile on her face, and to Lila, who crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows at him. Looking again at Klaus shrunk on the other side of the glass, Five shook his head.

“I'd rather stay up, thank you” Said Five, his jaw strained, his fists clenched next to his body. The Handler smiled that seemed to be the only thing she did.

“As you wish” She said, straightening her skirt and adjusting in her own chair.

“What do you want with Klaus?” He growled Five, staring at her. The Handler laughed.

“Oh, you know” She took a cigarette out of her pocket, lighting it and putting it in a cigarette holder, regardless of the fact that they were in a windowless environment. She blew the smoke in Five's face, who didn't move. Laughing, the woman continued “Power. You know very well, Five, that the Commission doesn't miss an opportunity when it shows up, and your brother... well he's a rare specimen”

“That wasn't in the agreement.” Hissed Five, barely holding on to jumping into the woman's neck and tearing it with his own fingernails.

The Handler shrugged with indifference, taking the cigarette holder to her lips and inspiring.

“When you got here, Five, our wish was to improve you, let's say. We gave you the best attributes of the greatest killers in history, we changed you for the better, we helped you, Five” She smiled, leaning over, and patting Five on the cheek. He didn't move, but his shoulders strained even more, if possible.

“You did it because you wanted me to do your dirty work without hesitation, without thinking about my brothers.” He said, his hands scratching at a knife. The Handler's lips contracted, and she bit the tip of the cigarette holder.

“Looks like that didn't work, did it? After all our hard work, you ran away like the dirty little mouse you are and went back to your siblings" The woman crossed her legs and swallowed the cigarette, taking it out of her mouth and looking at Five with her head bowed “But Five, don't think we don't know everything about you and your family" She smiled, smoke coming out of her lips as she spoke.

Five tried to hide the tremor in his hands, but The Handler saw it and laughed.

“You're not as discreet as you think, Five, why do you think Four is here?" She laughed and Five remained silent “We've been watching you and your family since you were born, that wasn't a coincidence. We know you, Five. We know how much you care about your family, how much you care about Four” She pointed to Klaus on the other side of the glass, which was now wrapped in a ball on the floor, biting her fingers frantically.

“Yeah? Well, I don't care what you're saying, I demand that you stop experimenting with Klaus” Hissed Five, managing to keep the trembling away from his voice. The Handler gave a shark smile, all his teeth showed, as if she were about to attack her next prey.

“Oh, but you care, we both know so." She said, uncrossing her legs and looking at Lila “Lila, dear, do it”

Lila looked at Five and approached the panel, pushing a button. Five almost jumped when the sound suddenly popped up in the room.

_‘No, no, no, no, no... please don't'_

_‘_ _Go away, go away, go away...'_

_‘_ _DAD! LET ME OUT!'_

_‘No, no, no...’_

_'STOP! STOP! PLEASE!'_

_'I'll be good, I'll be good, I promise, I'll be good, good, good, good...'_

Five was frozen in place as his brother's frantic screams and whispers sounded around him like a mantra. He looked at Klaus, who kept moving, screaming, covering his ears, shrinking, whispering, and shouting desperate requests, shouting _'Dad, let me out!'_.

That brought a very old memory back. Five thought he had pushed it to the back of his mind, but Klaus' desperate requests to be freed brought that memory back.

He remembered following Klaus and Reginald one night, discovering what his brother's special training was and jumping into the Mausoleum after his father walked away and sitting there with Klaus, comforting him, and making him company for the rest of the night.

He remembered leaving when the first rays of light seeped through the door and Reginald's footsteps resonated outside. He remembered squatting behind a chard in the garden on the terrace and seeing Reginald opening the mausoleum door, pulling an exhausted and trembling Klaus (who could barely disguise his relief) out and take him into the house.

He remembered jumping into his room and showing up for breakfast as if he hadn't spent the whole night with his traumatized brother in place of his darkest nightmares. He remembered Klaus' secret smiles over breakfast and the discreet touches for the rest of the day as they trained.

He remembered the hug Klaus gave him before going to bed and how Five had not walked away and slapped his brother as he usually did, hugging him awkwardly, not knowing what to do with his arms. He remembered how Klaus trembled in the hug. He remembered not commenting on the moisture accumulating on his shoulder where his brother's head rested.

He remembered patting his brother on the head when he walked away and said good night to him. He remembered putting on his pajamas and lying down to sleep. He remembered his door opening silently and a shadow hovering beside him. He remembered the sound of the cane hitting the floor of his room as the steps approached his bed. He remembered sitting and looking resigned at his father.

He remembered following Reginald to his office. He remembered the pain of his cane hitting him. He remembered how his father stepped away afterwards, wiping his cane with a handkerchief and saying in an expressionless whisper:

_“I hope that teaches you not to intrude on Number Four training again, Number Five. Dismissed"_

He remembered awkwardly pulling his pants up and staggering into the room, tripping down the stairs and falling numerous times before he managed to reach the top and enter his room and collapse into his bed. He remembered avoiding Klaus in the days that followed. He remembered his brother's horrified and guilty expression when he finally cornered Five and made him tell him what happened. He remembered not regretting following Klaus and Reginald, even after what had happened to him. He remembered never following Klaus and Reginald to the Mausoleum again.

“You–” Started Five, when Lila pressed another button and the sound stopped, Klaus continuing to writhe in the other room, his mouth moving frantically, but not a sound coming out. The Handler interrupted him, getting up and standing next to him.

“Ah, ah, ah! Let's not finish that sentence, shall we?" The woman patted Five on the cheek and began to mess with his hair casually, looking at Klaus on the other side of the glass. She was uncomfortably too close, but apart from a contraction in his jaw, his fingers writhing, Five did not move, continuing to look at Klaus.

“You're a good boy, aren't you, Five? You wouldn't do anything wrong, would you? You care about Four, don't you?" The Handler wrapped a lock of Five's hair on her fingers, twisting it as she spoke “It would be horrible if I was forced to hurt Four for your mistakes, I don't wish to do that, he seemed so scared last time, but he doesn't understand that I do what I do for his own good”

Five's eyes narrowed to the mention of _‘last time’_ , but said nothing, discreetly breathing deep to calm down.

She spoke as if she really cared about Klaus and didn't want to hurt him, as if it was Klaus' own fault that she was hurting him. It wasn't, if it were someone's fault, it was Five's, but he wouldn't get into those dark thoughts, he needed to stay focused on the present, he couldn't miss anything.

“You know that don`t you, Five? That I care about you and Four, right?" She laughed softly and Five forced himself not to face her “Well, Four is a recent addition, of course, but I love him as much as I love you, Five, just as I love Lila, you three are my children" Behind her, Lila shuddered in surprise, looking up with wide eyes, shock in her face, but quickly regained her composure, educating her expression, looking from Five at the woman next to him.

The Handler sighed, passing her hands by Five's arms and chest, as if smoothing the wrinkles that were nonexistent in his suit. Five deliberately did not look at her as she did so, keeping his gaze fixed on Klaus, who had now resorted to hitting his head on the ground repeatedly, his hands scratching the floor next to him.

“You're disgusting” He squealed Five, still looking at Klaus, the concern for his brother growing, while Klaus, now with blood dripping down the side of his head, ran to the door and threw himself at it with all his might, trying to open it, but soon crawling into the corner again, his mouth moving frantically, his eyes moving around the room, seeing things five couldn't.

“Don't say that, you're practically calling Four disgusting!” This made Five turn his head up and look at The Handler. She smiled “Oh, I see, you don't know" She had a giggle, but she didn't say anything. Finally, after a few seconds of nothing, Five growled:

"What don't I know?” She laughed again, picking up her cigarette holder and taking another cigarette out of her pocket, fitting it into the opening, throwing the old one away.

“A lot of things, but this... well I thought you knew” She swallowed a puff on the cigarette, dropping the smoke soon after “Huh, what a pity" She shrugged.

Five physically restraining himself from jumping on top of her and demanding the information the force, but stopped, waiting, she liked to tease him, letting him row, longing for what she hid. It was a few minutes, in which Five turned again to Klaus, who was now swinging back and forth, his hands in his ears.

“You know, your brother did a lot of things in the years you've been away.” She began, and Five turned to her, narrowing her eyes "He's an addict, of course, but he had... Alternative methods of getting his products. Don't worry, it didn't make me give up on him, it doesn't make him any less my son, in fact, it makes him even more attractive” She smiled at Five, who blinked in realization.

He knew, of course, that Klaus rolled downhill after Five ran away, he had read about his brother's slow languishing in Vanya's book, but had never stopped to think about what it was like to be homeless as a drug addict. But if The Handler was referring to what he thought she was referring to...

“You sick bitch! I told you to stop!" He yelled at The Handler, advancing on her, trapping her on the wall with his forearm around her neck. But she did not seem intimidated, and smiled, looking over Five's shoulder, toward the glass.

Five froze, walking away from The Handler and looking at his brother on the other side of the glass, suddenly remembering why he had not attacked her so far.

The Handler was smiling malevolently, and without deflecting Five's gaze, she approached the control panel, pressing a series of buttons. The lights in the room in which Klaus was trapped, which were already dim before, went out completely, and Five could hear as Klaus screamed in pure horror, screaming non-stop.

_‘NO! NO! NO! NO!’_

_'DAD!_ _DON'T LOCK ME UP!'_

_'DAVE! DAVE! DAD, DAD, DAD! NO!'_

_'STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP YELLING!'_

_‘NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!_

_'LET ME OUT! PLEASE!'_

_'I CAN'T HELP YOU! NO!'_

Five frantically looked at the dark glass, trying to contain his panic as his brother's cries of horror continued, all because of him. First, his brother was caught in a situation that was not his fault, taken hostage by the vilest person Five had ever met. Then he is kidnapped and imprisoned and is tried as a lab rat. All this was Five's fault, all but now, he was screaming in horror at dark, something Five could have prevented if he had just kept quiet and done nothing.

He tried to remake himself, turning to The Handler, looking briefly at Lila, who was behind her, in a chair, arms crossed, eyes fixed on boots.

"Stop it" Demanded Five, his voice trembling at the end. His hands squirmed and he refrained from sticking them in his pockets, closing them in fists again instead.

“Um... " The Handler pretended to think, given a deep tint in his cigarette “I don't know, you made a mistake, and I said Four would suffer for your mistakes, what kind of businesswoman would I be if I didn't keep my promises? "

Five peeped hard, unable to contain himself from shudder when Klaus screamed again, supplicating in his voice. The Handler looked at him and smiled.

“Unless you have something to offer that is more interesting than punishing Four”

Five took a deep breath.

"Anything”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I'm back from the grave! Sorry, I took so long to update! I will try not to do it again, I love writing this fic!
> 
> I hope you are all well and that you had good holidays! (oops, this wish is long overdue, but I hadn't said it before and I like doing these things).
> 
> I had a good time and this school holiday was crazy, I'm back to school now, and I hope to get back to my normal update schedule starting today!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I love writing The Handler, and there's so much more to come from her! Five is going through a dilemma and I hope I have characterized him correctly!
> 
> I appreciate constructive criticism. If you notice something wrong, such as typos, holes in the plot, mischaracterization of characters, etc. Please feel free to tell me, I'm open to everything!
> 
> QUESTION:
> 
> I was wondering if any of you would be interested in reading a one-shot about what I described above about Five following Klaus and Reginald to the Mausoleum. I have no idea when it would come out, but I would like to write if anyone is interested. Comment your opinion! :)

**Author's Note:**

> Updates on Saturdays!


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